The Saga Continues
by AprilMeeha
Summary: It has been a little over a year since Bella was changed, and now the family believes it is time to start up the human charade again. They move to Alaska and everyone starts with school again. What will Bella get them all into? Story is on hiatus. Sorry.
1. Chapter 1

Edward and I lay in bed, just relaxing. Today was a day I dreaded. Today, was the first day of school. I had been a vampire now for a little over a year, and everyone felt I was ready to join in with their human charade. They had all taken a year off from the act, while getting me into the flow of things. I was fine around Charlie and Sue now, but I was not sure if I was ready for being in a school full of humans, yet. I wanted to put it off for at least another year, but they kept assuring me that things would be fine. The family had moved to Alaska for the change, they had already spent too much time in Forks, and needed to leave before people started paying much attention to them. I had promised Charlie that even though we were moving, I would visit with Nessie as often as was possible. I also promised to e-mail him daily, with pictures of Nessie, so he would not really miss out on any parts of her growing up. Jake had, of course, moved with us. He almost had a heart attack when I told him that we were leaving. He had sent most of his pack to stay with Sam, only Leah was allowed to stay a part of his 'pack', but she went her own way. They had bonded during the time spent trying to protect the Cullens, and he could not bring himself to force her back to Sam. We had moved in with the Denali clan while our house was built in Anchorage. We had just moved into the house last week, and Esme only had a few changes she wanted to make.

I thought the house was amazing. It was huge, 3 stories, set back in the woods just off the highway. Only about 10 minutes from school, which was convenient. The first floor was open, just as the one in Forks had been, with a sitting area, a dining room and kitchen. The second floor held Esme and Carlisle's room, Jasper and Alice's room, a study for Carlisle and Jasper to share, and Nessie's room. The third floor had its own sitting area, and 2 bedrooms, one being Edwards and my room, and the other was Emmett and Rose's room.

I shifted to lean on my elbow as I looked at Edwards face now. He looked so blissful, I almost didn't want to disturb the peaceful look on his face, but needed to talk about this. Alice would no doubt be charging into the room before long, and then I would have no time to talk, just be dragged about as she made me presentable. Sensing my mood, Edward looked over at me.

"What is it, love?" He looked concerned.

"I am just worried about..." I let the sentence fade off, he knew what worried me. He always knew. His arm flashed out to pull me close to him and kissed my hair.

"There is no need to worry. Today will go fine. We all have faith in you, and Nessie will be safe here with Esme."

I sighed. I knew deep down that everything would work out, I just could not help but worry. Today was the first day since our visit from the Volturi almost a year ago, that I would be away from Nessie for any real time span. I could hear her heartbeat and steady breathing downstairs. I openned my mouth to say something else when the door flew open with a loud bang, and Alice stood in the doorway, almost bouncing with excitement.

"Edward, drop that woman, she is MINE!" The maniacle laughter that followed frightened me a little. Edward kissed me once more before releasing me to her. I groaned as I climbed out of bed and let her drag me into the closet. It was also frightening how large she always convinced Esme to make closets. In a blur she flew through the closet, grabbing clothes I could not see. As she flew past, I felt her hand on my arm, pulling me all the way to her bathroom. I caught the scent of denim and cotton, but knew better than to think she had picked anything simple for me to wear.

As much as I loved Alice, I still feared her. Not physically, I was still a little stronger than even Emmett, but I feared how much she still loved playing Bella Barbie. She found Rose to be well qualified to dress herself, and she was still waiting for my love of clothes and shopping to kick in. Since I was much more graceful, and had gained a love for speed since becoming a vampire, Alice still had hopes that I would develope a love for clothes. I had to admit to myself that I was beginning to like it all much more, but I would never tell Alice or Rosalie that, they would be way too excited by it. Edward knew that I was beginning to enjoy it, but he kept my secret safe, knowing Alice would steal me from him more often if she knew.

So here I sat, in Alice's bathroom, with her tiny hands flying through my hair. I watched in the mirror as she used pins to pull small groups of hair up so that they hung with slight curls. She had gotten accustomed to the sheer amount of hair I had while I was still human, so I showered at night before I met Edward in bed, so it was all dry by the time she needed to work with it. When my hair was acceptable to her, she moved to do my make-up. Just a little blush, like she and Rose wore, to make us look slightly more human, and a little lip gloss, eye liner and mascara. Then she had me stand and helped me pull the shirt over my head without messing up the hair she had worked so hard on. It was a simple enough, a plain black tank top, with a thin, cropped blue over shirt that seemed pretty pointless but it was cute. The sleeves flowed down to my wrists flaring out as they went. She let me climb into the pants myself, but she was bouncing off to the side, waiting for me to get them on. Just a a simple pair of jeans, which surprised me, until she held the shoes out to me. They were the same blue as the shirt, but stilettos. I sighed as I pulled the shoes on, they were cute. The shoe itself was the same shade of blue as my top, but the heel was black. I did a slow twirl to show off to outfit to Alice, her bouncing sped up as she began clapping, too excited to relax. Rolling my eyes, I walked past her to go find Edward again. I wondered what outfit she had picked out for him, they had let me know that Alice helped choose everyones outfits as much as possible.

I grimaced at Jasper as he laid in bed still, chuckling at me. Bella Barbie time was a joke amongst the family, they knew how much it annoyed me to be her personal dress-up game.

I walked back into our room as Edward stepped out of the closet. He had on jeans, a black t-shirt and a blue overshirt that matched me. He tried to hide his amusement at the grimace still on my face.

"I am so jealous that you get such simple outfits." I pouted as he wrapped his arms around my waist. He kissed my forehead and chuckled softly.

"I wish I was a boy." I leaned my head against his chest, still pouting.

"Not me, love. I rather prefer you as a girl." I rolled my eyes even though he couldn't see it. There was a set of footsteps headed towards our door that made me stiffen slightly. Keeping Edwards arms around me, I turned to face Alice as she danced into the room with her hand behind her back.

She glided over to me and breifly touched my ears, smiling and announcing I was perfect. I shifted to look in the mirror on the wall and saw she had added a pair of dangling blue earings. The only other jewelry I wore was my wedding and engagement rings and a neclace Esme had given me for my first official vampire birthday.

Edward and I held hands as we followed Alice downstairs. Everyone was already dressed and waiting for us. Even Nessie. She sat at the counter in the kitchen with a bowl of cereal infront of her. Apple Jacks were one of the few human foods that appealed to her. I was happy that she had found some human things she liked, if only to give her something to eat and do around Charlie that would not freak him out. She still prefered to talk through her visions, but was getting used to speaking out loud as well.

"Momma, you look pretty!" Nessie exclaimed when Edward and I reached her. Edward kissed her head as I smiled at her.

"Well, so do you! Did Aunt Alice buy you a new dress?" I reached out and tugged at the bottom of her dress carefully. Alice spoiled her like there was no tomorrow, well we all spoiled her, but Alice was the worst. I almost shuddered at the thought of when Nessie would be joining us in the high school charade one day.

Alice bounced a little at Jaspers side, his arm around her waist as he smiled at his wife. We stood around talking for a few minutes before we all kissed Nessie goodbye and headed out to the garage. Edward had purchased a new car for us to take to school, so we would not have to take two, and his was the only one that would not stand out. We climbed into the SUV, a Dodge Nitro. It was a dark red color with heavily tinted windows. He took the drivers seat with me next to him, as the others piled into the back. As we pulled out, I saw Esme and Nessie standing on the front porch, Carlisle had already left for his first day on the job at the local hospital. We all waved to them as Edward sped off to school. I sighed and watched as the trees flew past us, Edward squeezed my hand encouragingly. I gave him a small smile and turned back to face the others. Jaspers arm was around Alices shoulders and she was playing with his hand while they whispered to each other. Rose and Emmett were cuddling, neither saying anything, just holding each other as they stared out the windows. They all seemed so peaceful, I was the only one who apparently had any unease about the day.

Edwards driving slowed a little as we got close to the school. I turned back to watch as the building came into view. West High School. It seemed like a decent sized school, big enough for 6 new people to walk in and not be too noticable. There was a parking lot to the side of the building, but Edward just pulled around front to where the buses would normally be to drop off students. He parked and we all climbed out of the car. It was a nice, overcast day. A perfect day. After shutting my door, I waited for Edward to round the car at human speed.

"Shall we?" He extended his arm to me, and I took it, letting him lead me forward.

The others followed as Edward lead us into the front of the building. It seemed like every kid who had been milling about infront of the school stopped and watched us. I thought I caught sight of a boy walking into a pole, and the quiet laughter from my siblings confirmed that. Poor kid.

We walked into the front office and stopped at the front desk. A woman had her back to us as she sorted through some paperwork. Alice cleared her throat slightly and the woman jumped, obviously not realizing anyone had entered. Turning, she welcomed us after a breif pause as she took in our faces. I felt as if mine should have turned bright red, but knew that it wouldn't.

"Hello! We are new here." Alice stated the obvious in an overly friendly voice. The woman seemed a bit shaken still, but asked our names.

"Well, I am Alice Cullen, we also have Edward and Emmett Cullen, and Rosalie and Jasper Hale. And Bella Swan." She point to each of us as she said our names. I had argued with them all that I should have been called a Hale or Cullen, but they said I did not look enough like Rose or Jasper to be a Hale and Edward didn't feel like dealing with people thinking we were siblings, since everytime they changed schools, people seemed to figure out they were all coupled up. It kept things from seeming too weird. They had told me Swan would be perfectly fine for a last name since we were far enough from Forks for there to be any real problem, no Cheif Swan or anything for people to connect me to.

"Well my name is Ms. Johanson. Here are your schedules and maps of the school. I see Rosalie, Jasper, and Emmett are all sophomores, your classes will mostly be in this area." She circled one wing of the school with her finger. "Bella, Edward and Alice, all freshmen, you will mostly be in this area." Circling another area, she handed us all our papers. We thanked her and walked out of the office. Alice, Edward and I compared schedules as Rose, Emmett and Jasper did the same. I had Algebra 2, Guitar 1 and Physical Science with Alice, and English, Spanish and U.S. History with Edward. We all had lunch together. I was happy I had classes with both Edward and Alice all day. It made this seem easier, knowing I would never be left to fend for myself. I glanced at the school map just long enough to have it committed to memory, no need walk around with it infront of my face all day.

Edward and I said our goodbyes with everyone to head off to History class. What a way to begin each day, listening to a teacher drone on about things that meant nothing to me anymore.

When we got to the room, it was still mostly empty, so we quickly made our way to the back of the room, taking seats next to each other. The class slowly filled, and I watched as the students gawked at us.

"Do they always stare like this?" I murmured to Edward so that only he could hear.

He chuckled softly before responding. "Pretty much. It gets better after a while, you get used to it. At least you can't hear their thoughts." I smiled at him and threw my shield over the entire class. I watched as he went into shock for a moment before realising what I was doing. He leaned over and kissed my forehead and the contact made me lose focus and the shield rippled back to just me. I heard him groan softly then chuckle.

"Thanks for trying, love. I will have to deal with it once I go to my classes without you anyways." I smiled at him and reached over to squeeze his hand. Class started and I started going over random things in my head. I imagined that we had not had to return to school, how we could stick with our daily routine. I missed it already. I wondered what Nessie and Esme were doing right now. When the class was finally over, we stood and walked to the door together. Alice was waiting for us already. Edward walked the two of us to our algebra class and after kissing me on the forehead, he left to go to his class.

Algebra and Science went by pretty fast, all things considered. 4th period was lunch. Edward met Alice and I right after class and we walked to the cafeteria together. The others were already there, so we got in line to pick up some prop food, and met them at the table they had chosen. Alice danced over to sit next to Jasper, while Edward and I followed to sit across from them. The cafeteria was filled with those long, greenish-blue rectangle tables with the benches built in. Rose and Emmett were on the end facing each other. Alice and Jasper were next to Rose with their backs to the rest of the student body who shared lunch with us, and that left Edward and I to face them all.

"So Bella, hows your first day of high school going?" Rose asked, one eyebrow raised.

"You know, I have been through high school recently, its not much diferent." I tried to sound as dismissing as she did, but I was pretty sure I did not succeed.

"Ah, yes, love. You did, but so did we, and we remember it much better than you do." Edward leaned over and kissed my forehead after saying this. I glared at him then looked at Alice, she was practically jumping up and down on her seat.

"What is it Alice? You are about to hop away." I laughed at her, but she just stuck her tongue out at me. Edward was her a funny look, which made me worry more. What is she thinking about? I asked Edward in my mind, it was easier and easier everyday to pull my sheild off of myself.

"She is reciting Romeo and Juliet." Her murmured to me, and she smiled when she heard us trying to figure out what was on her mind.

The day went by pretty uneventful. Edward and I were the first ones back to the car, so we waited there for everyone. Edward was telling me what was on people's minds as they passed us. Most were in awe of the new kids, while those who weren't did not amuse us very much. I did find it quite hilarious how many of these boys thought of me, and how everytime they did, Edward would growl. He wanted very much to hang some sort of banner to announce that I was his, and no one was to even bother thinking about me. I was laughing at him when the back door openned and Alice and Jasper hopped in.

"What is so funny?" Alice asked as she and Jasper exchanged confused looks.

"Bella finds it amusing that these... these... boys want her." He spat the word boys like it was poison.

Alice laughed along with me as Jasper sent calming waves to Edward. When Rose and Emmett climbed in though, Edward was still fuming. He revved the engine and flew out of the parking lot, narrowly missing a few of the boys he had growled at earlier.

"Just relax, Eddie. I have no interest in those boys, so you have no need worry about what they think. Would Jazz or Emmett care about the things that are thought about their wives?" I tried to make Edward relax as we drove home.

"I don't know." He got an evil look on his face and I heard Alice giggle in the back seat. "Oh Jasper, tell me, would it bother you to know what some of those boys were thinking about Alice?"

Jasper seemed as confused as I was. "No, I don't think so."

"And Emmett, do you feel the same way?"

"Just tell us what they were thinking, Edward. It doesn't matter what we say." Emmett didn't like whatever Edward was planning. He and Jasper exchanged a wary look.

"So, it does not bother you that I caught a glimpse in one mind of Alice, tied to a desk in a classroom, in the nude, giggling and being spanked? Mind you, this was one of the teachers. And I caught sight of Rose in a run down sedan, leaning over quite feverishly helping a football star get off?" Edward was just grinning now.

I glanced back and saw Emmett and Jasper both pull their lips back over their teeth. If they would have known who specifically had had these thoughts, they no doubt would have ripped a hole in the back of the car to get out and find them. Alice, Rose and I laughed at them.

"Seriously Jazz, you worry that one of those teachers can woo me better than you?" Alice sang to her husband.

And I heard Rose coo to Emmett, "Baby, you should know you have nothing to worry about, I mean, a run down sedan? Hah! It would take a lot more to pull me from you."

when we got to the house, the boys were still grumpy, so we sent them off to hunt. They needed to be on their best behavior at school, and if Jazz and Emmett were still pissed about what guys thinking, there was nothing to stop them from doing something stupid.

After saying our goodbyes to the boys, I went to find Nessie and Esme. They were in the living room, watching a movie. I tried to move as quietly as possible, I knew Esme could hear me, but Nessie seemed oblivious, which is what I wanted. When I was about 5 feet from the back of the sofa, I coiled then sprang forward. I flew over the sofa, grabbing Nessie as I did, and rolled onto the floor tickling her as we tumbled. The scream she let out quickly turned into a fit of laughter. My tickling slowed then stopped as we lay on the ground, Esme chuckling to herself from the sofa, and Alice and Rose had run into the room when they heard Nessie scream, now they were laughing at us too.

I felt the small silver phone in my pocket vibrate and realized that the guys would not be far away yet, and probably heard the scream too. Pulling it out, I flipped it open and pressed it to my ear.

"Hello?" I sang, not even bothering to check who was calling, I was fairly certain it would be Edward.

"Bella? Is everything ok? We heard Nessie scream. Do you need us to come back to the house? We are on our way back now." I heard the whooshing sound of air as he was, indeed, running back that moment.

"Edward, everything is fine. We were playing. Don't come back now. You will see her when you get back. Go eat. Plus it is a little offensive to know you don't think we girls could handle it if anything happened to her." I heard the wind die down and knew they had stopped.

He tried to backtrack and say he did not doubt we could take care of her, then gave up when I could not hold in my amusement. I handed the phone to Renesmee so she could prove to her father that she was perfectly fine before he accepted it and the boys were back on their way to hunt.

I was actually surprised that Jake was not here yet, after Nessie had screamed, I half expected to see him there faster than Alice and Rose. I suppose he probably heard her laughter too, and figured out what had happened. I heard his slow footsteps coming through the back yard now and looked up to see him climb the stairs and come in the back door. Esme had built him his own small house behind ours, figuring while he was in love with Nessie, he would not want to live in a house full of vampires.

"Hey Bells. How was school?" He gave his toothy grin as he took a seat on the sofa next to Esme.

"Not bad. You should have joined us." We had all discussed the fact that since Jake was, basically, part of the family now, he should join in on the charade. But he had refused, saying it was not necessary. Honestly, he did look to be at least as old as Carlisle and Esme, if not older. But so did Emmett, if not just due to his size. But I knew it was because he did not want to spend any time away from Renesmee. So, until she would be in on the school act, he would be staying home. I had to admit I was a little jealous. He had several years before that came. Nessie could easily now pass for a 5th or 6th grader, but we wanted to wait to put her in school. She still grew at a much faster rate than humans, so we wanted to hold off on enrolling her in school until she was old enough that the changes would be less noticable. 


	2. note

Authors note:

This is my first fanfic that I am posting on here. I hope everyone enjoys it, please review as much as possible so I can make sure everyone DOES like it. I am having fun writing this, since the Twilight series has helped me to really start working on a book I have been mulling over for years. I am trying to keep as close to the original characters as possible, but seeing as I am not the awesomeness that is Stephanie Meyes, I am sure I will mess up sometimes. Bear with me as I do this. :-) I am currently working on chapter 2, so hopefully I will have it up soon.

Again, please, please, PLEASE review and let me know what you think! :-)


	3. Chapter 2

A couple weeks past with no real issues. I met a few humans who were somewhat enjoyable to talk to. Like in science, Dr. Von Guessel split us up into pairs and Alice and I were not paired up. After a brief, worried glance at her, I joined my partner. It was a girl named Melanie. She was cute, I supposed. She had chin length, straight blonde hair. Her mouth was a little too big for her face, but it just made her look unique. She had smiled at me when I met her at our station, seeming a little unsure of what to say. We had chatted a little but I didn't know what to say to relate to her. We talked about our families, she had 2 younger brothers, her parents were divorced and she lived with her mom. I told her I was adopted by the Cullen's, that my parents had died years ago. I felt a little bad for telling the lie, but it was what I had to do, and with the whole no blushing thing, it made things easier to do it.

There were also some pairings that annoyed me, like in Spanish. Mrs. Escobar had teamed me with a boy named Mike. Edward seemed like he was going to jump out of his seat and kill this Mike kid before he even sat in the desk next to mine. I quickly threw my shield over the kid to protect him. I knew Edward would be mad at me later, but I only did it to save the class from what Edward was capable of. I almost let it slip at one point, the kid was truly annoying. As soon as he sat, I was filled in on how he was the quarterback of the schools football team. He kept flexing his muscles, like that would have made me want him. As it stood, I was stronger than he was. He kept trying to flirt with me, it was almost painful. I knew Edward could still hear every word this kid said, and I felt bad for the girl who had been partnered with my husband. He seemed oblivious to her drooling. It made me giggle a little when she offered to do all the work for him, he could do this work in his sleep - if he could sleep, that is.

I almost attacked the Mike character myself when I felt his too warm hand on my leg. I cursed Alice for putting me in this skirt today, it was made of the thinnest silk imaginable and stopped mid-thigh. Edward had enjoyed the sight, but apparently so did half the boys in school.

I didn't need any more reason for Edward to want to kill these boys. Our nature was enough of a thing to battle with. Even now with me being more than capable to handle myself against them, Edward had grown so accustomed to protecting me while I was human, he had to keep reminding himself that I could handle it.

Other than the few minute problems, school was quite easy.

I had fun with Edward too, in the middle of classes I would pull my sheild back and think about things we did when we were alone at night. I found it hilarious one day, when I let him into my brain suddenly and he fell out of his chair. He, on the other hand, had not found that amusing. He kept muttering that I was spending way too much time with Emmett, if this was how I was going to start acting.

The only class I ever had any real trouble with was guitar. You would think that learning a musical instrument would be simple with how much time we had to devote to practice and how easily our minds could comprehend things. My biggest issue was handling the instrument itself. I did not worry about touching Nessie, being half-vampire made her a lot less destructable than a couple pieces of wood. One day I was distracted by Alice - she was having a vision and I was preoccupied wondering what she was seeing - and I accidently snapped the neck of my guitar in half. A couple strings flew out and hit the kid next to me, giving him huge gashes.

That day was a true test. Alice and I had both stared, horrified at the kid. Luckily the teacher had acted fast and sent him to the nurse right away. Emmett had found the whole situation hilarious, of course, later when Alice had recapped it for the family. Everyone was proud of me for not attacking, human blood really is an amazing thing, but Alice and I had ditched the rest of that day anyways, to go hunt. Edward was not happy that we had disappeared half way through the day, but once he had found out why, he was fine. Emmett just would not let it rest that I had found a way to be a clumsy vampire. Eternity with him was going to be hard.

A couple weeks after the guitar incident, we were all sitting in the cafeteria, not eating lunch, when an idea hit me. It was less of a lightbulb being lit, and more of overhearing a conversation, but that was not important. We were all in our usual places, sitting next to our significant others, when I overheard a couple of girls talking about the upcoming try-outs for cheerleading.

I felt Edward shift under me, I was leaning back into his side with his arms around my waist.

"Bella, love. What are you thinking about?" His head tilted sideways a little, and I instantly imagined a puppy staring at me waiting for something to happen.

I giggled softly, "Just thinking..." I trailed off. I leaned away from him slowly, he let one arm fall while the other continued to hold my waist securely.

I glanced at him to catch the roll of his eyes. I rolled mine back at him.

I leaned on the table, and my siblings watched me curiously. Suddenly, Alice started giggling. None of us paid attention to all the stares that came to us when Alice's laughter got louder. I glared at her, but she seemed to like what I had in mind, her head was nodding as she continued to grin like an idiot.

I felt Edward shake with his own laughter as he watched the vision Alice had.

"Rosie, get ready for some fun." Alice laughed again, Emmett, Rose and Jasper all still looked confused, so I took pity on them and explained what I had thought up.

~*~

It had been a week and a half since I had my brilliant idea, and now the three of us girls were walking into the gymnasium. I knew the boys would be watching from a window, they wanted to see how things went. I had no doubts. There was no way three vampires were not going to make the cheerleading squad.

Alice had dragged us out to do some shopping for the perfect outfits to wear to the try-outs. Now we wore matching sweats - black, loose fit pants, bright pink tank tops and pink and black sneakers. We had also watched every movie we could find that had anything to do with cheerleading, and had made up our own practice cheer. I was a little nervous, I did not want these girls to be so intimidated by us that they turned us down just to make themselves feel better.

We walked in and sat on the ground to watch the girls ahead of us. Most of them had no business being here, it was quite comical. I looked up and saw the boys watching from a high window. I nudged Alice, next to me, and pointed up to them. She squeeled a little and waved up at them. Rose rolled her eyes as our sister started bouncing. Alice really was a little too excited.

When one of the girls sitting at the table in the middle of the room called my name, the three of us stood up.

"Uhm, my sisters and I were going to try-out together." I said quietly, giving her a shy smile. She rolled her eyes at me and said that was fine. I caught the whisper she sent to the girls on either side of her.

"This should be interesting."

Another girl leaned over and whispered as well, "The one, Ella, or whatever her name is. Isn't she the one who's guitar cut that boy?"

I sighed, I should have known that would get around school. I heard Emmett guffaw in the window.

Alice, Rose and I took our places and the routine started. After a lot of yelling, jumping, flipping and climbing ontop of each other, we finished in a Charlie's Angels pose with the judges staring at us in shock. Alice jumped up from her place on the floor and we bowed. We were dismissed and left the room with our arms wrapped around each other. Not a sound was heard as we left, everyone was in shock at what we had done, without breaking a sweat.

The boys were waiting for us and Edward cringed until Jasper and Emmett pulled their wives away from us. I gave him the same curious puppy look - my head tilted to the side.

He forced a smile for me, then explained that the two boys had been imagining their mates in a lot of inappropriate ways during our performance. I laughed as he slid his arm around my waist and we headed for the car.

It did not take long before the list was posted with who had been chosen for the cheer squad. Alice was squeeling at lunch, so I had a pretty good idea of if we made it or not. I laughed at her as we walked over to the gym after school to check the list - it wouldn't look good if we just walked around acting like we already knew we had made it. When we got there, the coach was handing out uniforms, so we searched until we found our sizes.

When we got home, the guys just went to the living room to play video games, while we wandered upstairs to talk about girl stuff. I had a feeling that Alice was realizing how much I actually liked shopping now, because I had not hidden it well when we were out shopping for our try-out outfits. We decided to change into our uniforms and see how much our husbands liked them. The school colors were orange and black, and the uniforms showed it. The skirt can to mid thigh, pleated orange on top of black all around, with a pair of very short black shorts underneath. And the tops were snug, and stopped about an inch above the skirts. The top was black all around except for two orange 'V's down the chest, with an eagle - the school mascot - on the front. The backs were plain black except for an orange 'W'.

My sisters and I changed quickly into them, then made our way downstairs. We were sure to walk past the guys on our way outback, telling them we were going to go practice. It was almost audible the way the guys just watched us walk by, jaws hanging slightly. We were on the back patio stretching with our backs to the sliding glass door, but I could hear as Edward, Emmett and Jasper all walked to the door to watch.

Suddenly Alice was gone, I looked at Rose who was laughing. I turned in time to see a blur of black, orange and white being carried up the stairs inside. The Rose and Emmett were tumbling towards the tree line, and I felt two warm arms slide around my waist. I felt his lips trailing butterfly kisses up my neck and I smiled before turning to look at him seriously.

"I guess we aren't going to practice today." I pouted. His lips came crashing onto mine for a brief second before I pulled back a little.

"Do you like my uniform?" I smiled up at him innocently, batting my eye lashes. I heard the growl make its way up his throat before he was kissing mine.

"Not at all. I think you need to take it off. Right now." I laughed huskily as he lifted and carried me up the three flights of stairs to our room. During the walk - well, run - I trailed kisses up his throat and nipped lightly along his jaw. He practically threw me onto the bed before he locked the door and pounced onto me.

The next few weeks seemed to fly by. Cheerleading practice had not started yet - they would in the middle of October. So had waited patiently. I tried to convince the boys to take a more active role in the school, but they did not know what to do. I was currently working on getting Edward to join the chess club. He was not too keen on the idea of spending a lot of time around humans, though.

"Come on Edward. Alice, Rose and I are trying to enjoy what time we have here. Why don't you?" I pouted at him in our room early one morning.

He staired up at the ceiling for a moment before responding.

"Look, love. I don't think its a good idea for us to mingle too much. We need to make it easier to just leave later on, and really, I mean, it's just wrong. It's like playing with your food." He wrinkled his nose a little and kissed my lip softly, before turning back to the book he had been reading.

"But, Eddie, don't you want to have a little fun?" I was not going to give up, and he seemed to realize that with a groan.

"How much fun can it be if I can hear what they are going to before they do it?"

That did pose a problem, so I sat back and thought for a minute. He had just relaxed and started reading again - thinking he had won the argument - when I jumped up, kneeling next to him. I snatched the book from his hands, careful to save his page because he gets a bit moody when he looses it.

"What about drama club?" I asked, more than a little excited. "It does not matter if you can hear their thoughts, because they will be concentrating on remembering their own lines."

He started to argue but stopped with his mouth open and finger in the air. I giggled at it, but he was scowling suddenly. I knew he liked the arts, and seeing as our family had to lie constantly to keep up appearances, I knew he could act. After a few minutes of silence, I knew I had won the arguement. I kissed his cheek softly and climbed out of bed, putting on a robe and strolling out to the living room. I had not e-mailed Charlie or Renee in a few days.

~*~

A/N : ok so it has taken me a few days to post this, sorry for the like 1 person im sure is reading it. :) I decided to leave it at a little bit of a cliffhanger. See if Edward really does try out for a play and what Bella can get Emmett and Jasper into. I have a lot planned for coming chapters, so keep an eye out for new stuff. :)


	4. Chapter 3

A/N: Thank you all sooo much for reviewing! I really appreciate it! I started bouncing in my seat when I was reading them! hehe . Keep the suggestions coming because I want to get all the 'kids' into activities. I have toyed with Emmett in football and Jasper as a wrestler... but I am not sure due to their strength and speed. But that would be something they all would have to work on being more human with. So... maybe. Like I said, keep the suggestions coming! ok time to write...

~*~

The weekend finally came. Normally speaking, I barely pair much attention to what day of the week it was. Not having to sleep generally made it very easy to get everything you needed to done every day. But, one thing it did not help with was shopping. I wanted to buy Renesmee some new clothes and I was finding myself bored when I looked through my closet. So Rose, Esme, Alice and I were taking a trip to California to do some shopping.

Early Saturday morning we said our goodbyes to our husbands and Renesmee before climbing into the Nitro. Alice was already bouncing in the backseat talking to Esme about what stores we just had to visit. Rose was driving and I was sitting up front next to her. She sped down the highway on the way to the airport. We could have just driven there, but figured if we took a plane, we could get there sooner and spend more time shopping. Our flight was a red-eye from Juneau to L.A. It would only take about an hour and a half or so. It seemed a little odd to me that we were barely taking anything with us. We had filled one suitcase with a couple changes of clothes for each of us. One suitcase for four grown women. It seemed wrong, but I knew we would be coming back with many more bags. I could not help the excitement I felt.

When we landed, Esme left us at the curb to go pick up the rental.

"So where should we go first?" Alice chirped.

"I'm not sure. I really want some new shoes." Rose responded. I was still unexperienced - compared to them - when it came to shopping, so I just tagged along where ever they went. I always found things I liked - when I didn't look at the price tags.

A large SUV pulled up infront of us and I saw Esme at the wheel. It was a pure white color with heavily tinted windows. We climbed in, Alice and I in the back and Rose took the front seat by Esme. The inside was a beautiful tan color, unlike all the other Cullen/Hale cars, which seemed to just be dark colors. This car just seemed to scream relaxation.

Esme took off, driving as fast as everyone else. It seemed a little odd to me, Esme and Carlisle were the 'parents' in the group so I always pictured them driving like Charlie had or even Renee. My biological parents had always been slower, safer drivers. I suppose being practically indestructable made you care less for safety. I know it made me forget it. I used to love driving slow, seeing the scenery, being careful. My old truck had always sort of demanded you go slowly, so I never had the option really. But even when I was riding with Edward, and he went so fast, I had wanted him to slow down. Not anymore.

Alice was talking non-stop about where we absolutely needed to go while in town, and I let her. She knew best. I missed Edward and Nessie already. Hell, I already missed them when we were saying goodbye. I thought about what things I wanted to buy for them while I was here. Nessie was almost too big for her winter jacket, so I knew I needed to get her a new one, and boots too. Alice had told us a big snow storm was coming before too long.

Before I knew it, we were pulling up at our hotel. Esme handed the parking attendent a generous tip and we walked inside to the front desk. I was carrying our one bag, standing back half listening to Rose and Alice making a shopping game plan. I made a mental note to get away from them for a little bit. I needed to buy gifts for everyone. Since they had made a big deal about my first and second vampire birthdays, I had annoyed them all into divulging when theirs were. It only seemed fair that if we celebrated one, we should celebrate them all. Plus I wanted to get a start on my christmas shopping. It was only mid October, but it is never too early to start.

We followed as a young boy, he could not have been more than 17, led us up to the penthouse suite. He kept glancing back at us, blushing furiously as we always caught him staring. When we got there Rose gave him a tip and he left us. It was an amazing room to be staying in. When you walked in the door you were in a sitting room, tiny compared to the one back home, but it was nice. White walls, white couches, dark wood coffee table and tv stand. The television itself was huge. There were flowers on every surface posible, a small kitchen with a breakfast bar. There was a door that led into a small bathroom, and a set of french doors that went into the bedroom. A huge plush bed was in the bedroom and a nice sized dresser. Not that we needed either, but the bed looked so inviting that a crouched in the doorway and sprung up onto it. I felt as another body landed ontop of me and looked up laughing at Alice. Rose and Esme were in the doorway now laughing at us. Esme came over and sat on the bed by our heads and Rose laid down on the other side of me. I wrapped my arms around Alice, pulling her into a close hug as Rose scooted close to us. Esme ran her hands through Rose's hair as we all lay there, just enjoying each others company. We had not done anything just us girls in so long, it made me happy to the core of my being to spend time with my sisters and mother.

"So, girls. We have a couple hours until any stores open. What is the game plan?" Esme spoke softly to us. Alice leaned her head back to smile at our mother before speaking.

"Rose and I wanted to check out that new shoe outlet. Bella, they are supposed to have a good amount of childrens shoes. I am positive you can find a thing or two Nessie will love."

"Yes. And then I wanted to go over to the Prada store. I need to check out their latest shipment, Alice assured me that they had some things for me there." Rose smiled at her sister with a twinkle in her eyes.

I sighed, hugging Alice tighter.

"Ok, well, time to get ready to go out." Alice jumped suddenly off the bed, dragging me with her. I sighed at we walked over to the vanity that was in the bedroom. Rose and Esme wandered off into the sitting room while Alice puzzled over what to do with my hair. I sighed, trusting her to not make me look like an idiot. Pulling out my small silver cell phone, I dialed the number to my husband. After just one ring I heard him answer.

"Hello, love. I trust Alice is not torturing you too much yet." I smiled at the velvet sound of his voice.

"I miss you already."

"I miss you, too."

I talked to Edward for a few more minutes before Alice yanked the phone out my hand and requested Jasper be put on. I rolled my eyes and went out to the sitting room with Esme and Rose to give her some privacy.

After Alice finally brought my phone back to me, we all sat around chatting for a little longer, planning out the day. it was finally about 8 in the morning when we decided to head out. First we hit the Prada store and spent hours going through everthing they had and trying it all on. I ended up walking out with a couple bags full of clothes, but I had to walk away when Alice paid for the stuff, I could not bring myself to look at the cost.

We left Prada and started making our way down to the shoe outlet until we saw the Victoria's Secret store. I groaned inwardly knowing that Alice and Rose would force me to buy at least 10 new pieces of lingerie. But I followed them into the store and started looking around. I found a few cute pieces I wanted to buy myself anyways. This was one store Edward never minded me shopping at. In the end, I was getting at least 20 new pieces, and a couple other articles of clothing that were too cute to pass up. I did not walk away before paying this time, I knew these would be expensive, but not as bad as buying a new wardrobe from Prada.

We walked from that store and down to the shoe outlet that Rose and Alice wanted to see. They basically dragged Esme and I there - we were walking too slow for them. Walking into the store was like entering heaven. There were rows upon rows of shoes. Every type of shoe you could ever dream of owning, was in this store. That was one of the first things I became attached to once I was changed. Shoes. I had always tried to find safe ones as a human because I was so clumsy. Now with my grace and ability to walk over a flat surface without falling, I could get every cute shoe that I had ever wanted. The four of us split up as we wandered the isle's. Edward was going to hate helping me reorganize the closet when I got back, so many new things to fit in there.

I realized that there was no more hiding my love of shopping from Alice when I ran into her in one of the isle's and I had almost triple the number of shoe boxes than she did. I cringed as she squealed and shouted to Rose.

"See, Rose! I TOLD you Bella loved shopping! Look at all these amazing shoes she found!" Alice bounced as she glanced at the diferent boxes I was pushing around in a little cart the store offered.

"Alice, do not make a big deal of this..." I trailed off as her eyes went blank. Rose and Esme had made their way over to us as well, so we all waited for Alice's vision to end. When she finally came back to us, she was bouncing faster.

"Oh! Tonight is going to be SO much fun! We have to go pay for these things then I think we should split up for a while and have some alone time each..." She trailed off deep in thought. I just shrugged, having wanted some time to go off by myself anyways.

So we all finished at the store and walked back to the car to load our new purchases in the back of it. Alice all but ran away from us, we just shook our heads and figured out what we were doing. Rose and Esme went off in search of a good place to get their nails done while I wandered off to see what other stores were around.

I was just walking around lost in thought when I looked up and saw I was infront of a little bookstore. I figured I could probably find something for Jasper in there so I made my way in. The store was adorable. It was quite small, but completely crammed full of books. I walked through the stacks for a couple minutes before a sweet looking old man walked over.

"Excuse me miss, but is there anything I can help you with?" He looked like such a nice man that I had to smile at him. I watched as his face flushed bright red.

"I am looking for a gift for my brother. He is a civil war buff, do you have anything he might like?" I was pretty sure this little store wouldn't. Jasper's collection was very extensive, but it couldn't hurt to check.

The little old man lead me to one of the over-stuffed shelves of books.

"This whole case is full of books on that war. Most are antiques, originals. We have a few diaries of some of the soldiers. Look around and see if their is anything you think he would like." He left me to sift through the books. I just skipped over anything that seemed generic, and was about to just skip over what looked like the diaries section altogether but a name caught my eye. Or really, 4 letters caught my eye. All I saw was 'J-a-s-p'. I almost skipped over it but pulled the book from the shelf and stared in shock at what had been neatly etched into the cover. 'The Diary of Jasper Hale' was sitting in my hands. I found myself flipping through a few pages and read a couple entries. The way it was written, I could almost picture Jasper saying these things. My realized that I had frozen in my shock and quickly shifted my weight from one leg to another and tucked a piece of hair behind my ear incase the old man was watching me.

I held the book close to my heart and walked away from the section to look through some other books. I wanted to buy this book and run from here to hide it somewhere, but I knew it would look strange if I did that. I found myself in what seemed to be the wildlife section of the store. I saw a big book that claimed to be a dictionary of all wildlife around the world. I giggled softly and picked it up, carrying both books over to the old man, who was now standing behind a small desk.

"I trust you found everything you needed." He smiled at me.

"Oh, yes. Thank you for your help." He rang up my books and after paying him, I walked slowly out the door. I decided to wander around a bit more, it was almost 8 o'clock at night now and I figured the others would be heading back to the car soon.

I stopped in a couple more stores before turning to make my way back. When I got to the car Rose and Esme were sitting inside waiting. Alice was no where to be seen. I climbed in behind them and Esme started the engine.

"Alice called and said she would meet us back at the hotel. Did you have a productive shopping day?" Rose turned in her seat to face both Esme and I. I smiled.

"Very. Did you find anything else you liked?" Rose went into a long story about all the clothes and shoes she found for both herself and Nessie. I listened intently, trying not to think too much about the book, I wanted to run home and show Jasper this second.

We got back to the hotel in minutes and found Alice already up in the suite, looking like she just stepped out of the shower. We all gave her funny looks, but she just laughed at us and bounced some more. She insisted we all shower and she would get us ready for the nights adventure. I rolled my eyes at her, but we all did what we were told.

Once I was out of the shower, Alice had me sit at the vanity. I had not even been able to dress yet. She started with my make-up. I watched as she went a little overboard with it, making dramatic black lines around my eyes and a dark red lipstick on me. When she finished that, she grabbed a blow-dryer and got to work on my mass of hair. This was the one part I always enjoyed during Bella Barbie time. She got so frustrated when trying to dry my hair because it took forever. When it was a dry, poofy mess, she started with a brush and got it under control. I felt her fingers start running through my hair as she started pulling it back and pinning it up. Whens he finished, my hair was twisted up in the back with little ringlets hanging down and a few small braids weaving through it in intricate patterns. I smiled at my reflection before she spun me around and handed me a shirt to put on. I stared at the fabric at first in confusion. There was barely anything there. It was black with only one sleeve, and that one was not much of a sleeve itself. I shook my head before I pulled it on. The one sleeve had a large slit down it so there was nothing ontop of my arm from shoulder to wrist, and the rest of the shirt seemed to just hang off of me but was held in place by a band running at an angle from my one shoulder to my other arm pit then back up in the back and a similar band along the bottom. She then handed me a black skirt that flowed to just above my knees. I pulled on the skirt then took the shoes she was holding out to me. I was happy, they were a pair of black boots I had bought earlier, they came up to just below my knees. I turned to look at the full length mirror on the closet door. I had to admit, I looked good. But I still had no clue what Alice was dressing me up for.

I walked back out to the sitting room, and the others were waiting on me. Rose had on a deep red dress that shimmered when she moved in the light. Her hair was up too, in a bun with a few whisps of hair hanging down. Esme wore a black pantsuit that clung to her body tightly and her hair was soft curls rolling down her back. Alice had spiked her hair up, and was wearing a green tube top and black mini-skirt. Looking at them made me realize where we were going and I grinned like an idiot. Alice was taking us to a nightclub. I had never been to one, so I figured this would be fun.

We all left and climbed into the car again. This time Alice in the driverseat, taking us downtown. I had never heard of most of the clubs we passed. Alice pulled off the main road and into a parking garage. We climbed out of the car and followed as she lead us to the front of a building with lots of noise and lights coming from inside. The line to get into this club seemed to be able a mile long, but Alice just walked up to the bouncer. He looked over the four of us and immediately unhooked the velvet rope, letting us in. I giggled at the shouts of protest from people standing in line waiting. We continued to follow Alice to an empty table just off the dancefloor. When a girl who barely looked to be 18 came over to us wearing next to nothing and asked if we would like anything to drink. The others all ordered drinks and I racked my brain for a drink I had heard of at some point, when Rose chimed in that I was have whatever it was she had ordered as well. I smiled my thanks to her and we sat there listening to the music for a minute before Alice grabbed my hand and pulled me onto the dancefloor.

As a human, I had never had enough coordination to dance, so I had no clue what to do. Alice laughed at my hesitation before grabbed my arms and started moving my body from side to side to the beat of the music. I smiled and started following whatever moves she was doing. Soon Rose and Esme joined us. We danced for a few songs together before going back to our table, humans could not dance for hours without a rest, so we needed to act that way too. I was having a lot of fun and I did like the others as they played with their drinks. A guy came over and asked Rose to dance, I was a little surprised he had the nerve, but she walked away with him to the dancefloor. Another guy came over and asked Alice to dance and she, too, went with him. Esme and I sat together giggling at those two.

"Em and Jazz would not like to know those two are dancing with other men." I smiled at Esme and she leaned back against me.

"Yes, well, this will be our little secret. Are you having fun?" She asked me, concerned.

"I am having a blast. I have never been to a club before."

Esme and I chit chatted a little but mostly watched Rose and Alice twirling on the floor. Esme and I went to the bathroom to powder our noses at one point and when we came back Rose was sitting at the table by herself.

"Hey you. Where is Alice? Still dancing?" I asked as I took my seat again.

"I think so. Haven't seen her in a bit." We tried to look through the crowd of people to see Alice or the burly guy who had asked her to dance. We could see neither when Rose's phone buzzed silently on the table. She had recieved a text message from Alice saying she was outside.

The three of us abandoned our untouched drinks to go find her. When we walked out, the line was still there but no Alice. I strained my eyes and ears to find her and we started walking towards the parking garage. We heard her talking to someone when we got inside the garage.

"Look, I am not interested in you. We danced, big deal." She trilled to the guy who had asked her to dance.

"Come on, baby. Don't be shy. You know you want me." He tried to grab her around the waist but she jumped out of his reach before he could. He cursed loudly.

"My husband is not going to be happy when he finds out you touched me." We were getting close to them at this point.

"Hey. Leave my sister alone!" I yelled to the guy.

He jumped and turned when he heard my angry voice. Since he was startled, when he jumped he ran into the car he had been standing next to. There was a dent in the bumper that jutted out some and when his leg hit it, it sliced a short hole into his jeans and leg. Before I realized what was happening, his scent hit me. I had forgotten to hunt before we left for the trip, and the scent hit me like a ton of bricks. I felt Esme and Rose try to grab me but I crouched and leapt before their hands could take purchse on my skin. I landed on the guy in less than a second and my teeth found his throat. Alice, Rose and Esme were frozen. When he was just about drained I felt their hands on my arms. They pulled me off of him too late though. I stared in horror at the body on the ground infront of me. I felt my eyes prick as they tried to tear up. My body shook with the dry sobs as Esme wrapped her arms around me.

~*~

I spent the night in a ball on the bed in the hotel, my knees curled up to my chest. I had not even taken the time to change from the outfit Alice had put me in before going to the club. All I kept thinking was that Edward was going to hate me. Carlisle and everyone else were going to be so disappointed. Until last night, I had never tasted human blood. Edward would hate me for being weak. I heard a soft knock on the door and Alice peaked her head in. She gave me a weak smile before walking in and sitting on the bed with me. She stroked my hair lightly before speaking.

"Sweetie, we need to go. Our plane leaves in an hour."

I slowly uncurled myself and stood up. Not speaking a word, I changed into a pair of sweats that I had brought with me. I walked into the sitting room and noticed that Esme and Rose were not there.

"They went to check us out. Let's get you home." Her hand rubbed my back as she carried our last suitcase out. We were going home with about 20 suitcases. It had been a good trip, shopping-wise.

We loaded the plane and I still had yet to say anything. I had not spoken since last night. I did not know what to say. As we flew, I stared out the window, barely awake of them talking quietly around me. Every now and then, one of them would rub my arm or leg softly, smiling and telling me it was ok.

I knew better than to believe them.

We landed in Juneau and walked off the plane. Esme went to get the car as the rest of us stood at bagage claim, gathering all of our bags. We recieved a lot of funny looks as we pulled bag after bag off the rotating belt. But I didn't notice. A young man helped us to load everything into the car and Alice tipped him as we climbed in, heading home. Heading to disappoint the love of my life. I felt my body shake with silent sobs again. Alice hugged me tightly, trying to calm me some.

We pulled up and the guys all came running out to greet us. I didn't see it, but the girls must have given them all a look, because the excitement died down fast. Edward took one look at me and ran to my side. He looked at our sisters and mother, searching their minds for an explaination for why I looked like I did. He must not have gotten much of one because I heard the growl rip up his throat. I felt myself shaking again and the dry prick was back in my eyes, so I shrugged him off of me and ran inside the house. I did not stop running until I was in our room. As soon as I had stepped into the room, I stopped. The shaking took over and I fell to the ground, curling back into a ball. Edward was in the room just seconds after me, and I felt his arms around me again as he lifted me and walked to the bed. After setting me down, he kneeled infront of me. There were so many emotions on his face. Worry, concern, fear, love. It made my heart break, knowing I was going to have to tell him how horrible I was.

"Bella, love, what is it? What happened?" There was so much emotion in his voice, it made the waves of greif in my body intensify. I openned my mouth to speak but nothing came out.

"Bella, please. Tell me. I can't stand seeing you like this!" He looked like he was about to start crying, too.

"I... I killed someone..." My voice was so soft, I was not sure if he heard me at first, but I saw the emotions clear from his face, and disbelief was all there was now. He had heard me.

"What?" That was all he could manage to say. I shook more as I watched the new emotions cross his face. Anger, shock, sadness, and anger again. "How did that happen?" His voice rose as each word came out. I squeezed my eyes shut, I could not stand to see how much he must hate me now.

I heard the growl rip up his throat again as he ran from the room. I heard him screaming things at everyone downstairs, but I did not listen to what he said. I didn't want to hear him tell them that he couldn't love a monster like me anymore. I let the silent sobs and dry tears take over me as I heard the front door open and slam shut.

He was gone now.

My reason for being was gone now.

~*~

A/N: wow... ok that was a lot of writing in one day. ok, so, I hope everyone liked this chapter. Something a little different from the first 2 that were set around school. Review and let me know what you think. :) 


	5. Chapter 4

A/N: Ok so, by the point that I am writing this now, there have been 2 new reviews posted. I hope everyone else has gotten a chance to read the last chapter, if not, DO IT! hehe. anyways... so I left it kinda on the edge of a cliff last time. I had to work today, otherwise I would have (hopefully) been able to get this chapter up sooner, but alas, I am at a bit of a brick wall. I know how things are going to go, I just need to figure out how to get there. So I decided to go for a drive, listening to the Twilight soundtrack, trying to figure things out. Last night I figured how the last chapter would come together while playing cards with my mom n brother. So I hoped that driving would help this one, I sped through the backroads just to get into the mind-set of a Cullen. Haha. I bought a chai tea latte, 2 cds and some sorbet in my search for how to take things here... so I have finished eating the sorbet n drinking the latte, now I am loading the cds onto my ipod, and I am now going to attempt to sort this out... wish me luck!

...

I just laid where Edward left me. Still curled in a ball, but the sobbing was reduced. My eyes still pricked with the invisible tears, but I was still now. I didn't know how long I laid like that, even though I stared at the clock by the bed, I did not pay attention to the time. It seemed like everytime the bright green numbers changed, another small piece of my dead heart broke off. It all felt very familiar, but I didn't even try to pull back my human memories of when he had left me before. This pain was worse. Ten times worse. I couldn't even go into zombie mode, I couldn't move. My arms hugged my knees to my chest, in a vain attempt to hold my marble body together.

I could hear the talking downstairs, but I did not try to make out what was said. Every now and then either my name or his penetrated the wall I put up. I felt Jasper trying to send me calming waves, but they did nothing.

The sound of feet dancing gracefully up the stairs and down the hall towards my room ended with a light knock on the door. Alice peaked her head in. I didn't turn to face her, I could picture the horror on her face. The whole family had heard what happened when they left last time, I imagine they knew what to expect when seeing me now. I felt her crawl onto the bed with me, her arms wrapped around me, helping to hold me together.

"Bella. No one is mad at you." I closed my eyes as she said this, that was the only movement I could handle. If I tried to get up, I felt like I would crumble.

"I let everyone down." My voice was so weak, I didn't think she heard me at first, but I felt myself being spun around to face her. My grip around my legs never loosened. I felt my chin quiver as another wave of sobs shook my body.

"No one is disappointed in you! We love you very much! I was there when it happened, remember? It is my fault. I dragged you to that club, I danced with that man. Me. Not you." I could hear the regret in her voice.

"Oh, Alice." I dropped my knees just to wrap my arms around my sister and the best friend I had ever had. "How could this happen? Edward hates me now." Her small hand ran through my hair, trying to sooth me.

"Edward does not hate you." She emphasized the word 'you'.

"Yes, he does. I am weak, how can he love me anymore?" I searched her eyes, for what, I wasn't sure.

"Isabella Marie Swan Cullen, he does not hate you. Never say that. He loves you with every fiber of his being. If you chose to live a life only feeding off of humans, he would still worship the ground you walked on. Edward loves you. Right now, yes, he is mad. But not with you." She gave me a stern look. "He is angry with me. Because I took you to that club and put you in that situation."

"He cannot be mad at you, Alice! I had so much fun, because of you! You didn't snarl at the man, making him jump and cut his leg. You did not attack him without thinking. It is all my fault."

Alice growled deep in her throat before climbing off the bed and dashing out of the room. I let my arms fall beside me, now not only did my husband hate me, but I had managed to upset my best friend. I did not deserve these wonderful people. Before I could make up my mind on where to run to, to spare them from how much I ruined things, I felt two arms swiftly lift me from the bed. I lifted my head to see Emmett's wide grin as he carried me downstairs. When we reached the living room, where the rest of the family - minus Edward - was, he dropped me onto the couch.

"Bella, we are not angry with or disappointed in you. We feel horrible that this happened to you." Carlisle knealt infront of me, taking one of my hands in his.

"I am so sorry Carlisle. I should have hunted before the trip. I was stupid." The words seemed to just fall out of my mouth in a slur.

I felt Esme's hands on my head from behind the sofa, then her lips pressed against my hair.

"Honey, it was not your fault. These things happen. We all slip."

Emmett flopped onto the sofa next to me, wrapping an arm around my shoulders, he squeezed me tight.

"Don't worry about it, baby sis. I slipped up so many times during my first year, you are way ahead of the curve."

Jasper and Alice walked back into the room, I hadn't even realized they had walked out. I felt Jasper send me some more calming waves and I let them settle me. A vampire can only dry sob for so long before it takes a toll on you. If I could sleep, I would have passed out a while ago. For the first time since we got back, I looked outside and saw it was dark out. We had gotten home before noon, so I realized I had spent basically the whole day holding myself together.

Alice slipped onto the sofa on the side of me that Emmett was not filling. I felt her arms wind around my waist, her chin rested on my shoulder. I wrapped one arm around each of them, squeezing gently.

"Thank you." I spoke softly, speaking to all of them. I really did have the best family a girl could ask for. I heard a phone buzz, and Alice turned to answer it. I stood then, letting their arms fall from around me.

"I am going to go take a shower." They all nodded to me, Carlisle rubbed my shoulder as I passed him, Esme and Jasper both smiled at me.

I made my way upstairs slowly, moving even slower than a normal human pace. When I got to the room, I made my way to the bathroom. I turned the water on hot, and climbed in after stripping. I let the water spray over me, relaxing my stiff muscles a little. I wasn't sure how long I stayed in there, but after a while the water started getting colder, so I turned it off and climbed out. I wrapped a towel around myself and left the bathroom, walking to the closet right outside of it. After changing into a comfortable pair of sweat pants and one of Edwards sweatshirts. I inhaled his scent quickly before walking out of the closet. I had laid in the bed and curled into a ball before I noticed a small movement in the corner of my eye. He stood by the door, not making a sound. He was staring at the floor, shuffling his feet.

"Edward?" I sat up, blinking my eyes, thinking I was seeing things.

He seemed to be searching for the words to say, I felt another small part of my heart break off, the others were wrong, he did hate me.

"I'm here." He glanced up at me before staring at his feet again. In that one glance, though, I saw so many emotions. The one predominant emotion was sadness. I gasped at the look in his eyes. The sadness was so strong. I hated myself for causing him such grief. My eyes pricked again, and as a few silent sobs shook me, he glanced up again. In an instant he was next to me on the bed, his arms wrapped around me. My head fell against his shoulder as my body shook.

"Bella. Don't cry, love. Don't cry. I'm here. I am never leaving you." His hands rubbed up and down my arm, soothing me as he spoke into my hair. I leaned back to look into his face.

"I don't want you to hate me, Edward. I am so sorry for what happened. I shouldn't have been so weak. I should have..." I trailed off, letting the sobs take control again.

Edward shook me softly, leaning down to look into my eyes. He stared deep into my eyes, and I felt like he could see into my soul.

"Bella, nothing could make me hate you. Ever. I am angry with Alice for taking you there, I am angry with myself for not making you hunt before leaving. I could hate myself for turning you into a monster, like me. But, I could never, ever hate you. You are my only reason for existing."

I clutched onto him tightly.

"I love you so much."

"I love you more than anything, love. More than anything." He pulled me tight, just holding me. My cries slowly calmed, stopping eventually. When I looked out the window, I realized that the sun was coming up.

A soft knock sounded on the door, followed by Alice popping her head in.

"Bella? You might want to check your e-mail." That was all she said before disappearing again. I stared at the empty space where her head had just been for a moment before looking up at Edward.

"Do you know what that was about?" The look on his face as I spoke said that he had no idea.

"No. Let's go find out what she is talking about." Slowly he stood, taking my hand and pulling me out into the hall.

We made our way downstairs slowly. Alice and Jazz were lounging on the sofa watching cartoons with Emmett and Nessie who were on their stomaches on the floor. Edward and I made our way over to the computer desk sitting between the dining and living rooms. I sat in the chair as Edward stood behind my shoulder, curious about what Alice would have seen to make her come get us.

I pulled up my e-mail quickly, noting one new message. It was from Charlie. I froze as I read the short note from him. Edward inhaled sharply.

Bells,

Hey, I just wanted to give you a heads up. Renee has called me several times about possibly making a trip to visit you in Alaska. I have tried to explain things to her, but seeing as I don't know much - and I don't want to - it seems to have just made her more worried about you.

Love,  
Dad

P.S. I may have mentioned Nessie, which may have made her want to make the trip sooner. Sorry.

My mouth fell open as I read the message several times. I heard a ping suddenly as another message came into my inbox. Closing Charlies note, I saw the new one was from Renee. I gave Edward a nervous look before openning it.

Bella!

I just spoke with Charlie, Phil and I want to come for a visit. We were thinking next week? I am trying to convince Charlie to come too, he seems a tad reluctant, but I think I will sway him fast. He mentioned something about a child you two have adopted? Why have I not heard anything about her? Bella, I am a little disappointed that you would keep something like that from me. Got to go, Phil just got home. Call me!

Love,  
Mom.

Next week? My mother wanted to visit next week? There were so many things that would need to be done. Edward and I stared at each other, neither knowing what to say.

...

A/N: Ok so, this chapter is a little shorter than I prefer for them to be, but a lot happened. I cried through most of it, I did NOT plan on that, haha. I kept 3 songs repeating during it - Never Think (Rob Pattinson), Flightless Bird, American Mouth (Iron & Wine), and Bella's Lullaby (Carter Burwell). Which most would recognize as the last 3 songs on the Twilight soundtrack. So next chapter will be Renee, Phil and Charlie's visit. Should be interesting. I hope to have it up this weekend. Let me know what you all think. I am thinking their visit will take up a couple chapters, then I will go back to the 'kids' in school. I still need some suggestions on what activities to have Jasper, Emmett and Edward join. Give me some ideas! :) thanks! 


	6. Chapter 5

A/N: Ok, so, this chapter and the next most likely are going to revolve around the visit. I think I have figured out what activities the boy will be joining once I get back to that stuff, and I am rediculously excited to write about Emmett. He is, by far, my favorite character. I love the whole family so much, but Em is just awesome. :) so I hope you all enjoy this chapter. I am honored by how many people have added this story to their favs and left comments. It helps me keep it going. Ok, onto writing!

...

Edward and I were laying in bed that night, I was exhausted from what we had just finished doing. I let my mind wander, I had not responded to Charlie or Renee's messages. I had no clue what to say to them. I knew I could control my thirst around Charlie, and he was getting used to how diferent I was, but what about Renee and Phil. I sighed, trying to figure out what to do. I wanted to see my mother so bad it hurt, but she had no clue what she was risking by coming here. I felt Edward shift next to me, I glanced over to see him leaning on his elbow. staring at me.

"Love, whats wrong?" He asked me, concern writen all over his face.

"What am I going to do about Renee and Phil?" I sighed and stared up at the ceiling.

"We will figure it out. You should call her, or else she might worry and get on the next plane to Alaska." He smirked, knowing it was true. My eyes were wide as saucers, because I knew it was true too. Renee always had a tendency to overreact. I sighed and reached for the phone that sat on the bedside table. After dialing, I put the phone to my ear. Edward laid back, holding my free hand and drawing soothing circles on it.

"Hello?" I smiled at Phil's voice.

"Hey Phil! It's Bella. Is mom around?" He greeted me warmly before handing the phone off to my mother, who I heard in the background. I laughed at the mental picture I had, Renee gripping Phil's shoulder as she bounced up and down with a huge goofy grin on her face.

"Bella!" She screeched into the phone, making Edward and I both flinch.

"Tone it down, mom!" I laughed at her.

"Did you get my e-mail?" She could not hide her excitement if she tried. I told her that yes, I had seen the message. She went over all the plans that she had already made. She and Phil were going to fly to Washington and pick up Charlie and Billy, he was excited to see his son and Nessie again. After while I was able to get her off the phone and I stared at Edward silently.

"Don't worry, love." He kissed my lips sweetly. I sighed and turned to stare at the ceiling again. I openned my mouth to make a comment when I loud bang was heard from the first floor. Edward and I glanced at each other before quickly throwing on some sweats and making our way down to see what had happened.

Jake and Nessie were on the sofa, staring towards the kitchen where I large billow of smoke was coming from. Soon, Emmett and Jasper walked into the living room, covered in various bits and pieces of food. I leaned my face into Edwards shoulder as we both attempted to hide our amusement.

"What... What happened?" Edward spoke first, having almost completely regained compossure. I was still giggling as I looked over at them again.

"Nessie and Jake were hungry. Emmett here decided he could cook them breakfast." Jasper gave Emmett a seething look. "I went in to see what he was making and then suddenly, BOOM!" I shook with laughter as Jasper explained. I heard the gasp as Esme walked into the room. Seeing her two sons covered, and the smoke coming from the kitchen, she ran in to see what had happened. I walked over and sat with Jake and Nessie while she chided them.

"Good morning, angel." I said as my daughter climbed into my lap, resting her hand on my cheek. She showed me a picture of her uncles standing there covered in food, the emotions with the picture were amusement and also longing. She was still hungry. Edward turned and walked into the kitchen, having seen the vision as well, and came back a moment later with a bowl of Apple Jacks. Nessie ate quietly as I turned to Jake.

"How did you sleep, Jake?" I asked. He shrugged before speaking.

"Fine. It really peaceful out here." I did not miss the emotions in his words. He really liked it here, and he enjoyed having his peace, Leah rarely ever phased. But he missed his brothers, Quil and Embry. I made a mental note to call Charlie later and see if they could come for the visit as well.

"Have you spoken to your father?" I asked, he shrugged again. I guessed Billy wanted to surprise his son with the visit. They had not seen each other in so long, I knew they missed each other.

We made small talk for a while before Edward and I left for a quick hunting trip. We would hunt again before my parents arrived. Suddenly I realized that today was Monday, we should all be at school. When I voiced that to Edward he just told me that due to what had happened this weekend, we took a day off school. I felt bad for making everyone change their schedules due to me, but as I looked around, everyone seemed happy, so I let it go.

After a few hours of just sitting around, not doing much in particular, I walked over to Edward as he played piano. He had started working on a new composition, and it sounded beautiful so far. I wrapped my arms around his neck, resting my cheek on his head. I felt one of his hands reach up and rub my arm.

"What is it, love?" He asked, turning his head to glance up at me.

"Why don't we do something fun?" I asked, leaning back as he spun around to face me, his arms weaving around my waist.

"Like what?" He looked at me curiously. I shrugged before we heard Emmett's booming voice.

"Who wants to gamble?" He asked, walking into the room.

I stared at him confused for a moment, before looking at my smirking husband.

"Go get the cards and chips, I will gather everyone." Edward ducked under the arms I still had wrapped around his neck before leaping gracefully up the stairs. I shared a confused look with Jake, who was still sitting on the sofa. Nessie was oblivious as she watched a show on the Disney Channel.

Jake and I followed Emmett to the dining room when he returned from the basement with a deck of cards and a decent sized breifcase. He rolled up his sleeves after placing the cards in the middle of the table. He flipped the two latches on the case, flipping it open to reveal rows of brightly colored chips.

Everyone filed into the room, taking seats around the table, Edward slipped into the seat next to me, grabbing the cards and shuffling them. Emmett started handing out stacks of chips, I looked at Edward about to ask what was happening, but Emmetts booming voice interrupted me.

"Welcome, Ladies and Gentlemen. We will be playing dealers choice tonight, passing the deck around the table, everyone has to deal. Buy in is $100,000. Anty is $50. Maximum bet is $200. No use of powers at this table." He eyed Alice and Edward through slits. Obviously they had cheated before. I giggled. "Once you run out of money, you cannot buy back in. The games end once one person is left. Edward, you may begin." Emmett looked so serious, I had to stifle more laughter.

Edward dealt the cards quickly, naming a game, then explaining it to me. Jasper won the pot, then the deck was passed to me. Having only played poker once before, when I was 10 and made Charlie show me what he and his friends were doing, I went with a simple hand of 5 card draw. Alice won that time and play continued in rotation. Esme quickly lost all her chips, followed soon by Carlisle - which I had a sneaking suspicion was planned. Emmett got close to being out of chips but won a large pot and started talking smack again. Jake was next out, and he left to head off to bed. Alice lost next, followed by me and Rose in the same hand. We stayed at the table, watching our husband get down-right rude with their comments. Emmett was out next, he roared in anger before leaving the room, with Rose following to cheer him up. That left Jasper and Edward, both with large piles of chips. The game had started nearly 4 hours ago, Esme and Carlisle had taken Renesmee to bed when they lost.

Alice and I glared playfully at eachother, While the boys glares were very serious. After another half hour of Alice and I chit chatting, waiting for the game to end, Alice ran and got her laptop. We moved to the other side of the table from Edward and Jasper to do some online shopping. It seemed to make Alice very happy that I was no longer hiding the fact that I liked shopping. I was still no match for her enthusiasm for it, but I did enjoy new things.

After a little more time Edward came out the winner of the poker match. I moved back to my seat by his side as Alice and Jasper left the room - Jasper seemed to be in quite a foul mood, too. Edward was carefully placing all the chips back into the case as I wrapped my arms around his waist.

"Seriously, is there anything you can't excell in?" He smirked as I kissed his neck softly.

"Poker is just luck, no skill required." I trailed kisses down his neck and back up. His hands stopped stacking the chips for a second and I giggled softly.

"Can't clean up wait for later?" I murmured, kissing along his jaw. In a flash chips were flying off the table, my back where they had been. Edwards lips sought mine after kissing his own trail up my throat, a soft moan bubbled in my throat. I was barely aware of pounding footsteps on the floor above us, then coming down the stairs.

"Edward! What was that crash-" Emmett's voice stopped as he walked into the dining room, as he saw Edward and I on the table in a very intimate position. "Oh for the love of- On the table!? You two realize you have a bedroom - with a bed in it, I might add - right upstairs, right? And on my chips!?!?! What is WRONG with you people!" Emmett bellowed. Edward growled as I giggled, embarassed.

Edward crawled off of me, taking my hand to help me up and lead me to the stairs. I stuck my tongue out at Emmett as we passed him. He mumbled something about needing to get some new chips and cards now, which made me giggle again.

The rest of the week went by easily, Jasper joined the debate team and cheerleading practice started. I was happy with the way the others were getting into the school charade, it made them all happy to have something new to do and talk about.

Early sunday morning, I called a family meeting, I was nervous waiting for my parents to arrive.

"Ok, now, we are all used to Charlie being around. But, now we will have Renee and Phil here, I asked Charlie to tell them what he knew, which is very limited, but it should make things easier for us. They will know we are not normal, so we do not have to hide most things, I would still prefer we not discuss hunting - Emmett - no matter how bored we get. Try not to talk about things that happened before even they were born - Emmett - that will freak them out a little." I glanced at my bear of a brother, who was scowling at me.

"What makes you think I will mess this up? I have been around humans before!" He huffed at me. I smiled at him, knowing he was going to try, and Rose probably already lectured him.

"I do not think you will mess anything up, Em, I just know you get excited sometimes and speak without thinking. You do not mean to do it, but things rush out, and some things will just confuse Renee and Phil." He seemed to be appeased - or something shiny caught his eye and he had already forgotten his protest.

After a few minutes of talking more with them all, we had agreed that the guests would stay in Jake's house with him. No one had mentioned Billy or Quil and Embry were coming, which meant that the three of them would spend most time either in wolf form or at our place. Emmett all but ran out of the room when the talking finished, and I heard him now playing a video game. I silently cursed him, hoping he would remember to act at least somewhat normal around my parents. Charlie was still a little weirded out, but he was used to it by the time we moved to Alaska. I hoped the distance would not change how he viewed things.

Edward and I were now laying in our bed again, my back pressed into his chest with his arms around my waist.

"What are you thinking, love?" He whispered to me.

"How is this going to go?" He knew what I was refering, his breath tickled my neck as he laughed softly.

"Bella, it will go fine. Alice has seen them leaving, all smiling. Try not to worry so much, they will be here in a few hours and it is only a week." He kissed a trail down my neck, which effectively ended the conversation.

....

It was 11 a.m. and Edward and I were standing at the airport, waiting. Five minutes had passed since we got here, but it felt more like 5 hours to me. I was trying to calm myself down, but it seemed like an imposible feat.

"Relax, love. They will be out soon. Their plane just landed." His arms were around my waist, otherwise, I probably would be pacing.

I suddenly saw two tall, dark heads making it through security and Edward let me go to run toward the werewolves I had missed. Quil and Embry were Jake's best friends, so I had gotten to know them better during my time with him. And then things got even closer between us when they had joined Jake's pack. I had not realised that Jake was not the only one who had missed them. Embry noticed me first, a large, bright grin lit up his face instantly. I flew to him, remembering to keep my speed close to what a human could do, and launched myself into his outstretched arms.

"Embry! Quil! I have missed you!" I trilled, jumped to embrace Quil as soon as Embry let me go. Edward made his way over to us, grinning as well. These were two more wolves whom he had gotten to like.

"Bella?" I heard Charlie's voice as Edward greeted the boys.

"Dad?" I side-stepped around their large frames to find Charlie and Billy not far behind. I rushed forward, pulling my father into a tight - but careful - hug.

"You look great Bells." He gave his warm smile, the one that made his eyes crinkle in the corners, and I turned to Billy.

"Hey, Billy. It's been a while." I smiled warmly at Jake's father, leaning down to hug him softly, too.

"It has been too long, Bella." He hugged me back, I was glad that he still seemed to accept what I had become. We had had rough times when Edward and I first got together, but he seemed to be able to tell how happy I was.

"Bella?!" I heard Renee's confused voice, and moved around Billy's chair to move closer to her. She and Phil stood, silently gaping at me, a few feet back from the rest. Edward had moved to greet Billy and my father, they were discussing what activities were planned for the week.

"Hi, Mom." I said slowly, moving even slower towards her.

"What... you... you look... great." She offered a small, nervous smile. I mirrored her, in response. I was not sure if I should hug her, I did not want to frighten her.

"Thanks mom. I have missed you." Suddenly, her arms were around my neck, hugging me fiercely. I froze at first, not sure what to do, but I thawed myself instantly, hugging her back. She held onto me for a full minute, seeming like she was worried if she let go, I would disappear. I knew what that was like, I had felt that way about Edward many times before. Slowly, she pulled away, I smiled at her, amused.

"Oh, honey, I have missed you so much. It is just not the same getting an e-mail from you instead of seeing you and getting to hug you. We cannot have so much time apart." I laughed softly at her words.

"Mom, I lived in Forks for a couple years, what brought this on?"

"I know. It's just, knowing you live even farther from me now, I can't stand it. And you are not with Charlie anymore, at least in Forks I knew you had one of your parents with you, just incase you needed us. Now you are all married and on your own. My baby, all grown up." Her hand pressed into my cheek, and I leaned into it, enjoying in the warmth. This must be what Edward loved most about me being human, it was an amazing feeling, human flesh against my skin. I could easily see what my mother was talking about, even now, with us not far away, I hated knowing Renesmee was back at the house, neither of her parents with her.

"Not entirely on my own, we live with Edwards family." I reminded her. I realized I had yet to greet Phil, turning I saw him standing with Edward and the rest, giving mother and daughter a private moment. We walked to the group and I tapped Phil on the shoulder. He turned slowly, looking over me.

"You do look good, kid. Seems like the cold weather is treating you well." I laughed as he gave an overly dramatic shiver before enveloping me in a tight hug.

"I have missed you, too, Phil. Thanks for taking care of mom." I smiled at him and he nodded in response.

I moved back to Edward's side, wrapping an arm around his waist. Smiling around at all the happy faces infront of me, I sighed, content. My whole family was going to be under one roof. I tensed a little at that thought. My whol family. Under one roof. Well, two. With Jake's place being filled beyond capacity, as well. Edward, me, Alice, Jasper, Emmett, Rose, Carlisle, Esme, Renesmee, Jake, Quil, Embry, Billy, Charlie, Renee, and Phil. This was going to be an interesting week.

Edward and I helped everyone grab their bags and we headed to the car. After loading everything into the back of the Nitro, I let Billy take the front, sitting with Edward while I sat between Quil and Embry. We made it home slowly, I knew it killed - pardon the pun - Edward to drive so slowly, but we had a car packed with humans, so speed and recklessness did not bode well. But they all enjoyed the ride very much, staring out the windows, I heard Renee pointing out a lot of things to Charlie and Phil. Quil and Embry passed out practically before they were even in their seats.

We pulled up infront of the house and I heard Charlie, Renee and Phil all gasp. I looked at the building and smiled, we were home.

...

A/N: Hey guys, so this is chapter 5. I hope you like it, not a whole lot going on. But that will all start next chapter. I am debating between making the whole weeks visit one chapter or turning it into two, we shall see. Thanks again to everyone for reviewing, it helps a lot. :) 


	7. Chapter 6

A/N: Ok, I am going to try to make the visit just this chapter, so it might get a little long. I am going to try to keep it from getting boring and skip over the dull moments. Enjoy! :-)

...

As we all piled out of the car, the rest of the Cullen's and Hale's came out to the front porch. All except for Rose and Nessie who were back in the living room, waiting for when I felt like Renee and Phil would be able to see her without having heart attacks. I knew Charlie was itching to see her again, but he was also worried about how the two of them would handle the whole thing. I had asked Charlie to fill them in on what he knew on the way here, to help their transition into the fairytales that I now lived in. Judging by the way they had greeted me at the airport, I assumed that he had told them all that he could stomache. Charlie was still very edgy when it came to the topic of us, which I was happy about, I did not want my parents to be forced to make the choice I had, eternal life or immediate death.

Carlisle and Esme were the first ones to walk off the porch, the others hung back so as not to overwhelm them. They quickly greeted the extra two wolves, Billy and Charlie, the four of them being the easiest. Renee and Phil had stayed back a bit, watching how Charlie interacted with the family. I stood by my mother, and my vampire parents slowly walked forward.

"Hello, Renee, Phil. Welcome to our home." Carlisle greeted softly, smiling at them warmly.

"Mom, you remember Carlisle and Esme, right?"

"Yes, Edwards parents. Your house looks amazing from the outside, even better than the one in Forks." Renee shivered slightly, and I realized that she would be freezing, it was colder here than in Washington. Esme seemed to notice, too.

"Edward, would you please drive everyone over to Jacob's house? Let them get settled in." Esme turned to Edward, pulling him from a conversation with Quil and Embry, before looking back to Renee. "Take as long as you need, then please come back for dinner. I am certain Jacob is antsy, awaiting your arrival."

I climbed back into the car with Edward and everyone else. This time I took the front seat, Billy, Quil and Embry were in the far back seat, hiding from Jake, so he would see them exit the car last. I was excited to see his reaction to them being here.

The driveway from the main house curved behind it and through the woods to Jacob's. We pulled up to his house, it was considerably smaller than ours, but beautiful, none the less. It was a two story home, there were two bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs, a nice sized living room, dining room, kitchen, one bedroom and bathroom on the first floor. It was larger than the house he had shared with his father in Forks, but small enough that he was comfortable. His old VW Rabit was sitting in the small driveway, next to the car Edward had bought him for his birthday. Although I enjoyed speed more now than I had previously, car-speak was lost on me. I did, however remember what Edward had called this car, a 2009 ZR1 Chevrolet Corvette - LS9 - 638 HP. What the numbers and letters signified was beyond me, but Jake had almost screamed like a little girl when he saw it.

Hearing us pull up, Jake walked to the front door, and leaned against the jam, waiting for us to step out of the car.

"Hey Charlie. How is it going?" He walked over to give Charlie a quick hug, continuing to greet Renee and Phil with a hello and hug or hand shake, respectively. He started to step back to help Edward with grabbing bags from the back as Quil and Embry climbed out easily, and they helped Billy out. Jake had not even noticed.

"Damn Quil, looks like he don't even care about us." Embry said a little louder than needed, smiling at Quil.

"I know, right. I mean, we have not seen him in forever, he doesn't even give his own father a glance."

Billy laughed softly as Jake leapt from behind the car, shock being the main emotion on his face, disbelief mixed in a little.

"Quil? Embry? DAD?!" We all laughed as Jake jumped onto his father, grabbing him into a bear hug and almost tipping over the wheelchair his father was seated in.

"Hello, Jake." The smile on Billy's face made my dead heart soar. "It has been too long, son. Now, grab some bags and get us into your snazzy new house." Billy flicked a thumb in the direction of the house that was behind him. Jake ran to the back of the car with Quil and Embry behind him to grab all the bags. Charlie took to steering the chair to the door, Phil helped him lift it up the one step. Edward, Renee and I stood back watching the boys run into the house with all the bags. Edward had an arm around my shoulders, as I circled his waist with both my arms.

"I love you, Mr. Cullen." I smiled up at him.

"I love you more, Mrs. Cullen." He leaned down and kissed me softly, I still felt a small tingle of joy at being Mrs. Cullen.

A sudden shot of black hair and dark skin flew from the house as Edward released me, only to have me scooped up by Jacob. He had the widest, goofiest grin I had ever seen pasted onto his face as he spun me in a quick circle.

"Bella, you are by far, the best friend a wolf could have!" His kissed my cheek, before setting me on my feet again. I laughed and latched back onto Edward, rolling my eyes.

"Jake, you gave up so much to move with us." My arm reached out to touch his cheek. It was then I realized Renee was still standing there, watching all three of us. I turned to her.

"Come on Mom, lets go get you and Phil a room." I kissed Edward once more, before taking my mother's arm, leading her into the small house.

Jake and his friends had dropped the bags right inside the door so Renee and I each grabbed a bag of hers and made our way upstairs. The two rooms upstairs were for him and Nessie - he had made a room for her for the rare times I would allow him to keep her overnight. Renee and Phil were taking Jake's room, it seemed weird for my mother to take Renesmee's when she had yet to even meet her granddaughter. I helped her unpack some of her things into the dresser that Jake did not even use. Being in wolf form half the time, his stock of clothes was limited to a few jeans and sweatpants and a handful of shirts. Alice would die if she saw how little he owned.

"Bella?" I heard the unease in my mother's voice, so I turned to face her. She had taken a seat on the bed and motioned for me to sit next to her.

"What is it, Mom?" I asked, but I had an idea of what this was about.

She stumbled over words for a few seconds before getting out her question. "Are you happy?" Her eyes searched mine - my eyes were now a warm golden color, finally.

"I am euphoric, Mom. You have no idea." I tried to put all the emotion I could into my eyes, willing her to believe me.

"You look... so... diferent. Not bad, at all. Just not the same Bella I have always known." She gave me a shy smile, then continued. "You are beautiful, you always were. It is a little scary now, but you look... timeless."

I gave a small nervous laugh.

"Mom, you have nothing to be scared of. I am still Bella. So, what did Charlie tell you about everything?"

I looked at my hands as I asked her this, not sure what to expect. She laughed nervously and I looked up at her face as she spoke.

"Well, apparently Forks has a lot more adventure than I ever imagined." I gave her a soft smile, trying to tell her with my eyes to go on. Her voice was a little shakey as she continued. "Jacob apparently is some sort of animal? A... a wolf?" I nodded gently to her. "He said he was not sure what had happened to you, but it was not the same thing. Jacob's skin is blazing hot, while yours is almost frozen. He also mentioned a little girl. And the story to stick by was that she is Edward's neice? But, Charlie seems to believe she is... not. His neice. When do I get to meet her?"

I realized I was frozen, so I unlocked myself. It was almost silent downstairs and I realized that at least 4 sets of ears were trained on us.

"When we go back to the house for dinner. She cannot wait to meet you." Renesmee had been asking when they were all arriving since we told her about the visit.

"Come on, let's get back." I knew she was nervous, and so was I, but we could not hide Renesmee from her.

We made our way back downstairs, Quil and Embry were going to run back to the house with Jake, which openned up a lot of room in the car for the rest of us.

By the time we made it back, the wolves were in the living room, playing with Renesmee. Quil, Embry and Billy all knew of her gift, so I was sure she was showing the boys memories of things she and Jake had done since arriving in Alaska. Edward walked to the kitchen to help prepare the food.

I lead my parents and Billy back to where they were. Charlie and Billy went directly to greet the beautiful little girl sitting in Jacobs arms. Renee and Phil stood back, watching in awe. After giving them a moment with her, I stepped over, scooping my daughter into my arms. I walked back to them slowly.

"Mom, Phil, this is Renesmee." I smiled at them cautiously.

"Nessie for short. The name is a bit of a mouthful." Jake called from behind me. I knew he was just as nervous about this as Edward and I were. Renesmee was his life. The thought of someone not liking her almost killed him, as it would upset her greatly.

"Oh, wow. Bella. She is..." Renee stood there with her mouth gaping open. Once she had gotten a good, full look at the child I held, she had no doubt that this was not just an adopted daughter for my husband and I. I watched as Phil stared in shock, I could practically see the gears turn in his head, trying to figure out how old Nessie was, and how long it had been since the wedding. I had definetely not been pregnant than, and had not had any children before it.

"Hi." Renesmee's soprano voice rang out as she greeted them before hiding behind my hair.

I watched the smiles that spread across their faces, as they fell in love with her just as fast as everyone else had.

Esme announced dinner was ready and I carried Nessie to her seat as the wolves and humans all followed behind me. When they had been seated, my vampire family and I excused ourselves to let them eat in peace. Or at least, as much peace as they could get with three teenage werewolves at the table with them.

Shortly after dinner, Edward drove Renee, Phil, Charlie and Billy back to Jake's house. The wolves stuck around to help Jake tuck Nessie into her bed for the night then headed back to the house.

Edward and I were sitting in the living room with the other six vampires, all entertaining ourselves in some way. I thanked them all for what they were doing for me and my human family.

"No problem, but just after this, try to limit the number of stray dogs you bring home, little sister." Emmett chuckled to me and I threw a remote control at his head. Since he was still laughing at his own little joke, he did not notice it until it was too late and the remote smacked him in the forhead, breaking into several pieces. The room was silent for a moment before everything burst into laughter.

"Ok Emmett, you can never call me a clumsy vampire again when you cannot even see a remote coming." I laughed at my older brother who was sulking in his seat.

Suddenly, Rose looking thoughtful, I felt Edward chuckle behind me in the chair we were sharing.

"Could someone explain why several vampires made pasta for humans to eat? Twice?" I laughed, having realized that we were, most likely, the oddest family of vampires. Usually weren't humans supposed to be dinner, not be over for dinner?

...

The first few days that my family was visiting went pretty smoothly. We all mostly sat around the main house talking, reliving things. It was a little uncomfortable for me, trying to remember back to my human years. Edward and I constantly talked about things from that time period, neither of us wanting me to forget anything. Renee had brought a few home videos and picture albums with her, so everyone had a good laugh at my expense.

Charlie seemed to never stop grinning, he was so happy to be around Nessie again. I knew he could tell how much she had grown even since he had last seen her, but he did not mention it. Renee also could tell in a heartbeat that this was no adopted child. Edward had told me that as soon as Renee had laid eyes on her granddaughter her mind had gone blank, but all through dinner she had gone over and over in her head how much Renesmee had looked like both of us. Jasper had also confirmed that both Phil and Renee had experienced a whide variety of emotions when they met Nessie. Awe, shock, love, wonder, more shock. That seemed to be their main emotions to being brought into this magical world, shock. I had to admit that it did not surprise me. I had gone through that as well.

I knew Renee was watching my new family carefully. Assessing every touch, every whispered word, every look. Trying to figure out how things worked between us all and trying to see if I truly was as happy as I said. Edward assured me that she understood. I felt him freeze up one day in the living room, he told me later that Renee had been trying to piece together what we were. She had gone through the same channels as I had, radio-active spiders and kryptonite, at first. She had also quickly thought vampire, but had moved off that just as quickly as she had thought it. Phil had his theories as well, but his were less mythological. He aparently kept coming back to thinking we were some sort of Northwestern Mafia family, he had worked in plastic surgery to keep us all looking young, and things of that nature. I got a good laugh at that.

As each day passed it got easier and easier for me to be around my human parents. There was still a burn in my throat, but Edward and I hunted every night, so I had no worries about losing my control.

Today was day three of seven. We had planned a trip out to a park nearby, the whole family. Charlie and Billy wanted to try ice fishing while they were here, so we figured today was as good a chance as any. So, the boys were going ice fishing, while the girls were just going to walk around the park and set up a picnic.

We said bye to the guys as they wandered off with their fishing stuff, Edward and Carlisle had looked into what was needed for ice fishing to be sure we had everything we needed. Esme lead the girls around, exploring everywhere we could, every path we found through wooded areas until we found a nice open area to settle down for girl talk. Rose, Alice and I took the several blankets we had brought with us and laid them out in a line. We sat in a loose circle, Nessie between Renee and I. Esme was on the other side of Renee With Rose on her other side and Alice between Rose and I.

"So, Renee, how are you enjoying Alaska?" Esme asked softly, trying to start up a conversation.

"Well, it is very beautiful and... white." The disgust she had used in the word white was obvious and we all chuckled a little. Renee was the same way I had been before I moved to Forks. She loves the sun, and the diferent shades of brown and tan that accompany the desert. I looked around the park where we sat now, the trees lining the woods were a nice green, covered in white snow. The ground had patches of green grass here and there, but was mostly a dark brown-black and also covered in white snow. Even the sky was a white-gray color due to the fluffly clouds. Far from the bright blue of the sky in Florida and Arizona.

We made small talk, sharing funny stories about our guys, just enjoying each others company. Before too long we, well everyone but Renee, heard the guys approaching us. It was not hard for them to find us, since the majority of them could just follow our scents. When they got close enough, we could hear laughter from the whole group of them. As they walked from the woods, I noticed that all of the wolves were wet. No, not wet, soaked. I pulled Nessie onto my lap, I was not allowing Jake near her when he was so wet, what if he got her sick? We watched silently as they walked over to our blankets.

Edward walked straight to me and he flopped onto the blanket between Rose and I, kissing me quickly on the lips before turning to kiss Nessie's forehead.

"What happened to them?" I questioned through my thoughts. His eyes twinkled a little at the memory, before he responded in barely a whisper.

"Jakey here took a wrong step on the ice and fell through. His buddies were a little too close and he took them out with him." I felt my mouth drop as my eyes shifted to Jake who was just sitting between Renee and I. He reached for Nessie and I pulled her farther from him.

"You are wet." I stated simply at his shocked expression. I rarely ever denied him when he wanted to hold her, now.

"Do not look at me like that. What if you get her sick?" His eyes tightened slightly when I added that.

"You are so lucky I love you this week." He said simply, sticking his chin out a little, I knew he would get over it, so I stuck my tongue out at him.

Esme pulled out food for Renee, Phil, Charlie, Billy and the wolves and we sat around talking loudly and just enjoying our time here for a while. Jacob told the rest of the girls what had happened to him, with Emmett adding in bits and pieces that Jake had decided to leave out. When mine and Jacob's parents started shivering, we decided it was time to head home.

The rest of the week was pretty uneventful, Alice took us on an outing to go shopping. I warned Renee that this would most likely happen and she had laughed it off, but when the time came, she realized why I had warned her. Alice, of course, went overboard.

"Ok, now, we have four hours at the mall, then we are heading over to the outlets. Wander in groups, pairs or alone if you would like to, but remember, meet back at the cars in four hours. Four. Hours." She had shaken a finger at the boys, knowing Emmett and Jasper at least, would wander off and get into trouble. Edward and I went off alone to buy christmas gifts, letting Nessie go with Alice. I had shuddered a little at the idea of how many bags Alice would return with. Knowing too much of it would be for her beloved neice.

When we had made it back to the cars, Alice was pacing, glancing at her watch occasionally, waiting for the wolves and Jasper and Emmett. Everyone else was milling around, chatting and waiting. When they had arrived, within seconds of each other, Alice about bit their heads off about time. They were five minutes late. Renee gave me a wary glace, and I shrugged at her. I had warned her.

Renee spent as much time as possible with Nessie while they visited. There were no problems until the last day. Alice started getting visions early in the morning. Nessie had spent the night over at Jake's with her grandparents, so Alice's visions were clearer than they had been in a while.

What she saw terrified me. Aro was coming for a visit. He was, of course, not coming alone, Felix and Jane were coming with him. We knew he would be there soon, but we were unsure if that would be today or tomorrow, or a week from now. He had just decided to visit, and we setting things up. We had to get the humans out of here before they came. Even though they did not know our secret, they knew too much.

I felt anxious, and I was glad they had planned for an early flight back to Forks. Renee wanted to get away from the white and freezing cold as soon as possible. After breakfast we helped them load all of their things into the Nitro. Edward was driving them to the airport alone this time. I refused to leave Nessie when we knew the Vultori were coming.

"Send me tons of pictures. I do not want to miss anything!" Renee had commanded after I hugged her by the car.

"I will mom. Daily. Charlie already has me on picture detail, and Rose and Alice take about a million pictures a day." I had chuckled at her request.

"I am going to miss you Bells. Do not lose touch. I miss you already!" A couple tears fell from the corners of her eyes and I wiped them away carefully.

"I miss you too, Mom." I hugged her again and then turned to Phil as she climbed in the car. We said a quick goodbye and I turned to Charlie.

"Tell Sue I said Hi, Dad. I am sorry she could not make the trip with you guys." He hugged me tightly and grunted a goodbye. I stepped over to Billy and smiled sweetly at him.

"Ah, Billy Black." I hugged him tightly. "Thank you." I said simply to him.

"I am the one who needs to give thanks, young Bella." He smiled at me after I pulled back from the embrace. "You gave me another chance to see my son."

"No, Billy, Thank You. For accepting me. For accepting my family. My choices. I know you still wish I would have made a diferent one, but your acceptance to the path I have chosen gives me hope for what what the future holds. I know being here was tough for you, but you trusted us. That means a lot." My eyes pricked with the tears I wanted to let lose. Billy reached out and held my hands. He nodded to me slightly, with a smile, before Charlie and Phil loaded him into the car.

I heard Jake saying goodbye to his brothers, and I took my chance to leap onto Quil's back. He jumped slightly, then rolled his eyes when he looked back and saw it was just me. I gave him a big grin before climbing off his back and stepping around to hug him tightly.

"I miss you Quil. Tell Claire I said hi." He nodded and said a quick goodbye. Before I could turn to face him, Embry enveloped me in tight hug.

"Bella! Life just is not the same without you. No more clumsy girls hopping off cliffs." I rolled my eyes at him. "I never thought I would ever miss a bloodsucker!" He guffawed at that and let me fall back to the ground before following Quil into the car.

Edward gave me a quick kiss and promised to be back soon. We watched as they all left, waving. I wrapped an arm around Jake, and we all headed back inside. After a couple hours, Edward walked in the door. I kissed him softly, welcoming him home.

"That went amazingly well." He said as we walked to the living room where Jake and Nessie were watching television.

I agreed with him, it had gone very well. Renee seemed to accept my new life, which is what I had hoped.

Alice rushed into the living room and Edward stiffened. Before I could ask what was wrong, there was a light knock on the front door. I looked back and forth between then, confused. Carlisle came downstairs and I saw Edward give a small nod, Carlisle had obviously asked him a question. But Carlisle quickly disappeared to the door. He openned it slowly and my breathing stopped when I heard the exchange.

"Ah, Carlisle. My old friend. How have you been?" The feathery voice questioned, seeming excited.

"Hello Aro, Felix, Jane. Please come in. To what do we owe the pleasure of your visit?"

Before I could hear Aro's response, I heard the low rumble build in Edward's chest. This was not good.

...

A/N: Hey all! Sorry it has taken a while to post this. It seems like people prefered a single chapter on the visit, so I skipped on a lot of details for just a rough idea of what happened. This week has been crazy. The ground ate my shoe the other day. It had been raining, and I ran through my yard and the mud decided it liked my flip flop and stole it. I still haven't dug it out yet, oh well. I have been going nuts trying to write this. I hope you all like it. Now, review, review REVIEW! :-)

On another note, I just wanted to blabber on for a moment. Twilight seems to surround me lately. I work for an insurance company, and I actually found a claim the other day whose policy holders name was Cullen. I almost flipped out. And I keep hearing people on the phones spelling things out and being like "E - as in Edward. J - as in James. C - as in Charlie." It drives me nuts.

Ok, now I am just running on about 5 hours of sleep, so I am hopping into bed. G'night and hope you enjoyed the chapter. I promise to get back to high school hi-jinx soon! 


	8. Chapter 7

**A/N: Hey guys, I just posted the last chapter last night so I am trying to get a jump start on this one. It will probably take a day or two to write this out, but figured I would write my first note of the chapter now. :-) Well, another Twilight-surrounds-me moment: I found another policy today at work, but this one was for a Hale, not Cullen. Made me smile. Also I ran into a guy I used to know in high school, he goes by Charlie, but his first name is Edward. Edward Charles, goes by Charlie. Made me laugh after I saw him n realized it. :-) Ok, onto the story!**

...

_"Ah, Carlisle. My old friend. How have you been?" The feathery voice questioned, seeming excited._

_"Hello Aro, Felix, Jane. Please come in. To what do we owe the pleasure of your visit?"_

_Before I could hear Aro's response, I heard the low rumble build in Edward's chest. This was not good._

I shot Edward a nervous look before rushing over to Jacob and Nessie on the couch. She leapt into my arms, I still used her to keep myself calm. Ever since last year when we had the issues with the Volturi I have had no need to calm myself, really. I hated having them anywhere near my family again, and my shield automatically rippled out to cover them. I was taking no chances, not with Jane here.

"Just a friendly visit, I assure you." Aro laughed softly, seeming at ease, but Edward was still tense. I watched carefully, my eyes darting across all the faces in the room. My family first, then the Vultori.

"Now, now, young Edward. Relax. There is no threat here, no need to look so serious." Aro took a step towards Edward. Edward seemed to react without thinking about it as he leaned back as the older vampire moved closer to him.

"Aro." Carlisle seemed to try and urge Aro to explain his appearance through the one word.

"I just came to check on the girl." Aro held a hand out, gesturing towards Nessie in my arms. "And also, I wanted to extend an invitation to Alice and Edward. As well as young Bella. To see if they have given any thought to joining us in Volterra."

I bit down on the inside of my lip to stop myself from laughing in his face.

"You have seen her." Edward snarled as he spoke.

"And I am fairly certain we still feel the same as we did before." Alice spoke then. I was still as a statue as Nessie reached up and placed a hand on my cheek. She wondered what Aro had meant about joining them in Volterra. She was curious. When my jaw clenched, her hand pulled away. She went back to watching everything.

"I see. It appears as though things are still not as they once were between us." The way Aro was acting, it seemed like up until a year ago, Edward and Alice were close to saying yes to joining his guard. I scoffed to myself, trying to pull back the image I had once formed in my human mind of my best friend and the love of my life in flowing dark grey robes. I attempted to try and place myself in one of the robes as well, but that was even harder to imagine. I felt a faint sting on the edge of my shield, right next to Alice. My eyes snapped to Jane as Edward let out a loud growl. He had seen what Jane was doing, in her mind.

"Aro. You have seen what you came to see, and asked what you wanted. Could you please leave us in peace now, before Jane attempts to harm any of my family, again." Edwards voice was tight, strained with anger.

Aro turned to face the young looking girl standing behind him.

"I was just testing to see if I could." She gave him a small, falsely innocent smile. Felix chuckled to himself as Aro shook his head but turned back to my family.

I felt the sting again, this time though, I felt it directed towards me. Or rather, it was directed towards who was in my arms. Since I had been immune to Jane even as a human, I knew by now she would have given up going for me. I felt the venom fill my mouth as Edward let out another loud snarl.

I handed Nessie to Jake and took a step forward to stop Edward from attacking Jane.

"Aro." He looked at me, curiousity shining in his eyes as he heard my tone. I had to force myself to not scream, but let the acid pour out through my words. "Although Alice was the one to speak before, let me assure you. I have no - absolutely zero plans of joining the Vultori. That does not just stand for right this moment. That is my answer for the rest of eternity. I cannot speak for Alice or Edward, but I am fairly certain that they feel the same as I do. You have yet again disturbed my family, and your little..." I wanted to say so many things to describe Jane. So many vulgar, immature things. "...bootlicker..." I saw Felix set a hand on Jane's shoulder as she began move forward to attack me. "... keeps attempting to harm those that I love. Including my daughter. Your 'friendly visit' has proven to be far from that. So, at the risk of being rude, I would like for you to leave. Now."

Many emotions flew across Aro's face as he listened to my small speech. Edward's arm snaked around my waist and he pulled me close. We stood together stiffly, waiting for the trio to leave.

"I am very sorry that this visit has gone terribly awry." Edward relaxed slightly next to me, so I knew that Aro was being honest. "Please accept my apologies. We shall leave you now." Aro gave a small wave as he turned to face the two he had brought with him. I saw his face harden before his back was to us fully. Obviously he did not like how Jane had behaved here. Only when they were out the door did any of us relax. I handed Nessie over to Jacob, he seemed very tense about what had just happened. I watched him walk out the back door with her, letting them go to his house. He had remained silent during it all, I let him have his time to calm down, I knew that he would never hurt Renesmee and assumed he just wanted time alone with her to calm them both.

"Bella, that was truely awesome." Alice ran to my side, Edwards arm was still tight around me.

"Yes, Alice. Jane attacking you and Nessie was awesome." I replied in a dry tone.

"No, that speech. And stopping Edward. As soon as Jane went for Nessie, I got a flash of Edward ripping her to shreds. But the vision disappeared as soon as you touched his arm. Even I could not stop Jasper like that." She started talking faster as she went. "But that little speech, wow. You know, two years ago, you would have stood there silently. You know Edward and I would never join them, you can speak for us about that anytime you want. You are getting bolder. I like it. Maybe we need a new wardrobe to go with this new, bold Bella. We should go shopping..." I stopped listening when she began talking about shopping. Only Alice could recover from the tension that had filled the room just moments ago so quickly. I turned to Edward, knowing Alice was in wonderland now, planning a shopping trip.

Edward still looked tense. My head cocked to the side as I watched him think.

_'What is it?'_ I asked through my mind.

He glanced at me then sighed.

"Nothing, love." He seemed to relax a bit. "I was just listening to their thoughts as they left. Wanted to be sure they were gone." He gave me one of his crooked grins, and I believed him. His arm relaxed around me some, so I knew he was fine.

_'Kiss me.'_ I stated simply through my thoughts. I felt him chuckle silently before taking my face in his hands and kissing me deeply.

Edward and I remained in our embrace for a few moments more, both ignoring Alice's one sided conversation that was still about a shopping trip. A loud bang made the three of us statues when the back door flew open and slammed against the wall.

"What the hell did we miss? The wolf looked terrified as he ran past us to his kennel with Nessie." Emmett bellowed as he ran into the living room. Jasper, Esme and Rose were following behind him. I watched Jasper go from tense to relaxed as he sensed our emotions. I am sure that Jake had him upset and when they banged into the house, all of us tensing did not help. But as soon as we all relaxed, so did he.

"Aro just paid us a little visit." Alice shrugged as she spoke, seeming bored.

"What? What happened?" Esme's voice was stressed, her eyes worried as she looked over all of us to see if anything was amiss.

"It was a 'friendly visit'." I spat out. I felt a wave of calm rush over me and smiled at Jasper before continuing. "They wanted to see Renesmee and to ask if either Alice, Edward or I would like to join them in Volterra." Edward rubbed my back soothingly.

"What do you mean 'they'?" Rose asked this time.

"He brought Jane and Felix with him, of course." Edward said blandly. I was in awe of Alice and Edward being so calm now, I was still a bit upset. I suppose that is something I will master as time goes by.

"Yes, you guys missed it. If only you had waited for a bit before hunting." Alice smiled smuggly as Jasper walked over and wrapped his arms around her waist.

"What do you mean? What did we miss?" Jasper asked as the other three looked at me curiously.

"Bella told them off. Sent them away, too." She giggled as Edwards arms tightened around me.

"Was I supposed to stand there like a log while Jane tried to hurt you? You are lucky I did not trust her and shielded you as soon as they walked in." I laid my head on Edwards chest as I spoke.

"Jane attacked?" Esme looked worried again.

"In our HOME? How dare she attack my sister." Emmett was not pleased.

"And your neice." Edward had anger in his voice again. The four of them exploded at that. Jasper seeming to accept it, saying how that explained the range of emotions coming off of Jacob as they passed him. Esme would have fainted if she were able. Rose shreiked, at a loss for words to express her anger. Emmett was almost comical as he started moving towards the front door screaming 'That little... I will kill her myself, with my own two hands. Rip her to shreds and burn her infront of her little twin.. Which way did they go?" Luckily, Carlisle came down the stairs - I had not even realized he had left the room after the Vultori had left - at the right moment and stopped Emmett from just barrelling through the front door. I watched in silence as Jasper tried to calm everyone. Edward leaving my side only to help Carlisle pull Emmett back to the living room.

"You all have not even heard the whole story yet. Bella was awesome." Alice giggled, motioning for everyone to sit down so she could recap. I was beginning to see how much she and Edward liked to tell stories because he sat next to her and they retold everything.

I had to laugh along with everyone when Alice and Edward told them that I had called Jane a bootlicker. Edward said that as soon as the word was out of my mouth, Jane had simply screeched in her mind. If she hadn't before, she truly hated me now. Felix had found it amusing, Edward did not like that Felix seemed to grow more interested in me every time we met.

I sighed, happy things were seeming to calm down again. It seemed impossible, but tomorrow we would all have to go back to school. It felt like the last few weeks had been years. I was not sure how I was going to be able to keep up the charade, but I had to. Tomorrow would be fun though, it was the beginning of an adventure. I had somehow managed to convince all of my brothers and sisters and Edward to join some sort of afterschool activity. Tomorrow Alice, Rose and I had cheerleading practice after school, Jasper had debate club, and Edward started practice with the swim team. And then there was Emmett. Emmett had chosen to join an activity I had never imagined he would like. Tomorrow was day one for Emmett Cullen and the bowling team. Like I said, tomorrow was an adventure.

.....

Monday went pretty smoothly. By the time cheerleading practice was over Jasper and Edward were waiting for us. We all made our way to find Emmett and the bowling team. I was a little frightened about what we would find. While my parents were here we had taken everyone bowling, that was how Emmett figured out that he wanted to join this team. He was a good bowler, we just had to remind him every now and then to act human - that meant no throwing the ball all the way down the lane, not touching the floor at all. That had not gone over well with any of the humans there, not my parents, not any other families nearby, and especially not the manager on duty at the alley. The wolves did find it hysterical though.

We found the bowling team in the gym, going over stances with Emmett. He looked frustrated, but so did the rest of the team. Shortly after we got there, their practice ended - much to our dismay. We enjoyed watching Emmett try to glide the way the kids showed him. Our bear of a brother was not very graceful.

"How is bowling so complicated? I do not see any reason to try and be a ballerina just to throw a ball down a lane. I hope they don't try to make me wear a tu-tu." Emmett was sulking in the back seat of the Nitro, Rose was laughing at him while trying to cheer him up. It just seemed to frustrate him more that she could not keep a straight face.

"That would be cute." Jasper chortled in the middle seat.

"No,no Jazz. I believe that would be hott." Edward said, mocking the way Emmett had recently started talking. He seemed to get really into how teenagers talked, I did not get it. Jasper gave Edward a fist bump while we rode home.

"I do not understand you guys sometimes." Alice giggled.

It got quiet in the car for a few moments before Edward groaned a little. I looked at him confused, until I heard Alice cackle softly behind me. Everyone except Edward looked at her expectantly.

"So, what is everyone doing next weekend?" She asked a little too innocently. I tried to figure out why she would ask, when it hit me I groaned. Rose and Jasper were not far behind me in realizing it. Emmett still seemed lost.

"What did you see Alice?" I asked dully.

"Well, seeing as it WILL be Halloween, and we all did recently join activites at school. Wouldn't it be perfect to throw a party? Invite all our new friends and have a good time?" She still sounded way too innocent.

Emmett seemed to catch up and the car bounced slightly as he got excited. For some reason, Emmett loves parties.

"You really think a party is wise? At the house of eight vampires and a werewolf?" I asked simply.

"Eight and a half vampires." Rose corrected me, but I could tell she was already starting to get excited with Emmett. Even Jasper had a small smile he was trying to hide. They were all against me. As usual. I looked to Edward, he was my only ally. And he seemed to be on the same page as me.

"Alice. You cannot be serious." He groaned at her.

"I saw it. It looked amazing, might I add." Edward sighed and I groaned in defeat. As we turned onto our driveway the car was really bouncing as the four vampires in the back of it were all jumping. I rose an eyebrow at Jasper questioningly.

"I can't help it when they all get so excited. I am quite conflicted right now actually, two grouches in the front seat, four hyper 5 year olds back here." I laughed at his harsh, yet accurate, explaination.

When we got inside Alice told Esme and Nessie about the party, and they got excited, too. My own daughter, a traitor. Jacob was on mine and Edwards side, though. He was not sure if a party was the best idea. Too many strangers around Nessie. And once Carlisle got home, he joined our side. Unfortunately for us though, four versus six did not bode well. Especially when Esme somehow got Carlisle to change his mind. Stupid excitable vampires.

Alice was quick to get to work on planning everything - including all of our costumes. None of us were allowed to know what they were until the day of the party. Rose helped her with planning the decorations and making flyers for it. Edward and I shook our heads, disappearing to our room. We did not want to be around our family when they got this excited and crazy about something, Jasper had a tendency to send extra waves of excitement to everyone, and Emmett was dangerous on excitement overload.

....

**A/N: Hello to the small number of people reading this. :) I hope you liked this chapter. Sorry it took so long to write and post. I have been kind of busy - my birthday just passed, yay! :D**

**I want this story to be fun and happy, not as gloomy as the last couple chapters have been. So I am getting back to the fun parts. Just incase anyone does not know what a bootlicker is - it is a derogatory way of saying follower. Bella just basically called Jane a servant to Aro, when she thinks herself close to being, but not quite, his equal. We shall not hear from the Vultori for a while and I will be introducing a cpl original characters soon. This being a fan-fic and all, I felt it necessary to add my own ppl into the mix.**

**Next chapter is going to basically just be the party. Any ideas for what the costumes should be? Maybe I will post a survey on my page or something... im not sure. Either way, give reviews! Give me ideas for costumes and all. I am starting to feel a little unloved and discouraged because I do not get very many reviews. I love reading them, they make my day. So, please please please review! :)**

**Ok, thats it! See you all next chapter!**


	9. Chapter 8

A/N: Hey guys! I know it seems like I take a long time between chapters, SORRY! I really do not mean to, I just… get… distracted. J I am trying my best to get things done faster! Ok, so, this chapter is all about the Halloween party and I was not sure what costumes to give the fam., so sorry if I disappoint anyone.

Ok now, really quick before I get to the chapter, I have a few things to add to my Twilight-surrounds-me list J :

*I have the claims at work for Cullen and Hale. I check them out from time to time just out of obsession with the names lol

*my Bella-esque week where I tripped over the same gate twice in my house, covered my legs in scratches and bruises.

*I have a claim with a Tanya on it – not very exciting, I know lol

*I have a claim with an Eddie Mason. I abt flipped out with that one lol

*I have an Emmett Le Noir on a claim – Emmett (yay!) and Le Noir means The Night in French, so yea its an awesome name! Hehe.

*I had to call a Phil the other day made me chortle.

*another Bella moment- I was putting my hoodie on in a store and smacked my hand on the register – hurt like hell.

*Random facts about the company I work for – there are 5 active Cullen claims – 35 active Hale. 50 closed Cullen claims – 262 closed Hale. 65 purged Cullen – 281 purges Hale. Yes, I looked them up. Yes, I am a loser like that. Yes, I am proud of that. Hehe.

Ok, onto the story!

Time flew by as Alice planned the party. I did not even try to help, it was pointless. Every day there seemed to be new packages that Alice bought, all in preparation for the party. She had the costumes hidden in her and Jaspers room, but I didn't think even he knew what they were.

It was now Halloween day and Alice was going insane. She had the guys all putting up decorations – most of them were cheesey. I laughed when Edward and Carlisle were hanging fake spider webs across the ceiling and walls. There were fake mummy's, fake bats, fake spiders. All fake, and all seemed childish to me. I assumed to the humans we had invited they would probably be a little scared of some of the things – like the fake severed limbs that had extremely fake blood oozing from them.

Our guests were supposed to be arriving at 8 and it was now 6:30. Alice, Esme, Nessie, Rose and I were locked in a bathroom, getting ready. Alice had picked out every costume herself. I was worried. Alice made me shield the bathroom so Edward would not be able to tell what out costumes were before we finished.

Rose was apparently being Martha Stewart, the woman from all the home crafts projects and cooking shows. She had soft curls in her hair and a very comfortable looking pantsuit on with an apron over it. Alice had made herself into Tinkerbelle. It was comical how well she fit the part. Tiny Alice, wearing a tiny leotard, with big wings and she had covered herself from head to toe with glitter. Esme was Elvira. When she changed into the costume, Rose and I had given Alice looks while Nessie had giggled. I had been frightened of what Alice would pick out for Nessie, but was pleasantly surprised by the little princess dress and tiara that my daughter sat in now. It was a rich purple with pink highlights and sequins made it sparkle.

I was not happy with what Alice had chosen for me. The dress I wore fell to the floor, but had slits in the sides that ran up to my waist. The top half of it was the same thin blue-gray fabric and it had knots on the shoulders. There was a belt made braided robe around the waist and hanging down he side after it tied off, with colorful beads at the ends of the strands. The shoes matched the belt – a faded brown color – and straps wrapped around my legs up to my knees. At least the shoes were flat, it amazed me Alice had been able to stop herself from buying me stilettos. Alice claimed that my costume was that of a Greek Goddess, but I thought I looked a little too frumpy to be considered that. The dress bunched in places that it wouldn't have on someone taller, better proportioned – like Rose.

By the time Alice and Rose finished with all of our hair and make-up it was about 20 minutes before guests would start arriving. We could already hear music playing downstairs, so we assumed the guys had finished dressing, and were waiting for us.

I was nervous to find out what Alice had chosen for them in the costume department.

We walked downstairs and the first one I saw was Carlisle. Alice had decided he was to be Count Dracula. Tasteless if you ask me. But he hammed it up, making Nessie giggle as he pretended to try and suck her blood. Jacob came into my view next. Where Nessie was a Princess, Jacob was her Prince Charming. It was adorable, I had to admit it. He had on tights and everything. I could not stop the chortle when Renesmee ran to him, jumping into his waiting arms. Next was Jasper. He was the Peter Pan to Alice's Tinkerbell. I noticed a theme where couples were dressed similar. Edward walked over to me and I took in his Greek God outfit. His toga was a bit shorter than mine, but he made it look amazing.

"Where is Emmett?" Rose brought me out of my daze. A quick sweep of the room verified that he was, indeed missing.

"Emmett is hiding." Edward stifled a laugh and Rose glared a him.

Rose made her way, following Emmetts scent, to the bathroom nearby.

"Emmett? Babe, are you ok?" She cooed to the door.

"Alice hates me." We could hear the pout in his voice and Edward was having difficulty keeping in his laughter. Alice started giggling as well.

"Babe, just come out."

"NO!" I could just picture Emmett, sitting on the toilet with his arms crossed. He was acting like a five year old.

"Please. I want to see my sexy man." Emmett continued to refuse to leave the bathroom for about 10 minutes. Rose was getting very annoyed. She was finally able to convince him to at least let her in with him, but he demanded that everyone moved to the other side of the room so we could not see him when the door opened.

I watched the door open slightly and after Rose slipped in, something large and brown shut the door. We all heard the gasp from Rose as she finally saw Emmett, then suddenly, the door flew open again.

"MARY-ALICE CULLEN!" Rose stormed into the room, headed directly for the pixie. Alice was hidden behind Jasper, who was standing in a very Peter Pan way – feet shoulder length apart with arm bent hands resting on his hips.

"Explain!" Rose looked ready to attack.

"It was all they had in his size! This party was sort of put together last minute!" Alice peeked around Jasper, giving Rose a sheepish grin.

The bathroom door slammed open again and everyone but Rose turned to watch Emmett move from his sanctuary.

"THIS. IS. ALL. THEY. HAD?" His deep voice boomed through the house and from the corner of my eye I saw Nessie clutch onto Jacob.

Emmett stood about 5 feet from us and we all silently took in his costume. He was covered from head to toe in furry brown. The hood of the costume had a long snout and two black eyes, I felt Edward shaking with laughter behind me.

"It was either that or Barney. Now, would you rather be a purple dinosaur?" Alice stepped around Jasper completely now, glaring at the two of them.

"You made my husband a _dog_!" Rose screeched. Emmett turned a little to glare at Jacob who was now laughing heartily.

"What is so funny to you, mutt?" Emmett spat.

"Nothing, man." Jacob tried to calm his laughter.

"Rose, Emmett. Let's just relax. Its just one night. Alice did not plan this." Esme tried to calm them down, while fighting her own laughter. Jasper took a couple steps closer to Emmett, who watched him warily.

"Relax, brother. I just wanted to say…" he trailed off as his hand raised to Emmett's head. He began scratching behind the ear of the costume and cooed, "That's a good boy, Emmett. Such a good puppy. You want a treat?" Suddenly Jasper was gone and Emmett was quickly chasing after him.

The rest of us began to laugh uncontrollably, even Rose. I saw a marble blur fly past the room quickly followed by a brown one. The brown blur backed up to look in the room, glaring at our laughter. He froze when he saw Rose laughing with us, his glare fell into a pout. Unfortunately, this made us all laugh harder.

"Baby, don't give me puppy dog eyes when you are dressed like a dog. You look so cute! I just want to pinch your cheeks!" Rose started moving towards him but the glare came back before he disappeared again. Rose stopped and leaned on the sofa for support while she laughed more.

We heard the loud crash outside as Emmett tackled Jasper. When they came back in Jasper was still smirking, while Emmett was still sulking. Shortly after, we all got ahold of ourselves just as guests started arriving.

I had to admit that the party was a hit, all the humans were enjoying the punch and snacks that we had made. The music was good. Rose only had to smack Emmett upside the head a few times, with the rolling pin Alice had given her as part of the costunme, as he scared some of our guests.

Alice and Edward had to stop Jake from phasing several times. He was getting annoyed with how many people commented on how terrifying Emmett was as a wolf. He wanted to show them what a _real wolf_ looked like. Around eleven Jake left with Nessie. They were both tired.

A little after midnight, Edward and I were dancing when he suddenly stopped. His entire body stiffened and I looked to see what had made him upset. He was staring at Alice, who had a nervous look on her face before she walked, at a brisk human pace, toward the front door. It seemed the whole family noticed the change in the two of them and we all met up in the front hallway.

"What is it Alice?" Emmett asked, he was not as upset anymore about his costume.

Just before Alice was able to respond, the front door opened as one of our guests left. A folded piece of paper fell the ground as we watched. Carlisle walked over and picked it up, reading quickly what it said before turning it towards us.

_Dear Cullen's and Hale's,_

_We see that you are having a little gathering, so we did not want to intrude. We will stop by again soon, can't wait to meet you all. Sorry, Alice, about the confusion. It will all be explained when we see you. Enjoy your party!_

_~ A and J_

We stared for a few moments silently. We then stared at each other. Whomever had written this note knew us, but we had no idea who they were. This was an interesting predicament.


	10. Chapter 9

**A/N: Hey guys! Ok, so I am _trying_ to get better at getting chapters out. I just posted last chapter last night, so hopefully I will have this one up tonight or tomorrow. **

**Just so everyone knows, the A and J are not Alec and Jane. This is where I introduce my OC's.**

The party began to calm down after that. I wasn't sure if it was just my family being tense about the note, or I the humans were all just getting tired. At some time after 2 in the morning the last of our guests were gone. We all sat around the living room, still in our costumes.

"Well that went well." Rose was curled up next to Emmett on the sofa.

"My big stuffed animal." Emmett glared at us all as we snickered at Rose's comment.

None of us mentioned the note, because none of us knew what to make of it. Alice had spent the last couple hours searching for what she missed. How had she not seen someone walk up to our door and leave a note. She found nothing. It was as if it had never happened – which we knew was not true because the note was sitting on the coffee table in front of us now.

I wasn't sure how long we sat there, still as statues, but eventually Rose and Emmett left to change out of their costumes. Carlisle and Esme left soon after them.

"Don't worry. Light will be shed on this soon." Carlisle patted Edwards shoulder as he passed us.

Jasper pulled Alice away soon after that, leaving Edward and I in our silence. I am not sure how much time passed as I watched Edward, deep in thought.

"Edward, love? We need to go get dressed." He turned to face me. "The people who left that note said they would be back soon. Now, 'soon' could mean in a few hours or it could mean a couple months. Either way, I do not feel like sitting around waiting – in a toga."

When I mentioned the toga, his eyes wandered down my body.

"But it is such a lovely dress. I wonder if I could convince you to wear it often?" His eyes found mine and I laughed at him.

"Not a chance." I stood reaching my hand out for him to take. As he stood, his arms snaked out to lift me up, bridal style. I giggled as he carried me upstairs to our room.

A few more hours past, and Edward and I lay in bed next to each other. The house was silent again. I lay listening to he quiet sounds of Edward breathing, when suddenly he stopped. His whole body froze. I lifted my head to look him in the eye but his expression was distant. It was a moment before a felt him relax again, just before the door downstairs opened. I heard the two heartbeats that I knew so well now, and got up to get dressed and go see them.

Edward followed my lead and before long we were downstairs. Jacob and Nessie were sitting on the floor at the coffee table watching cartoons. They each had their respective breakfasts sitting in front of them. Nessie with her cereal and Jake had what seemed like an entire households worth of scrambled eggs and sausage.

I took a seat behind Renesmee running my hands through her hair as she ate. When a commercial came on, she turned to face me.

"Momma? What's this?" She held up the note. We had all apparently forgotten it and left the paper on the coffee table. Jake turned to face me as well. He seemed to search my eyes, trying to find the answer to the question Nessie had voiced, then he turned to stare at Edward.

"It is a note, sweetie." I stated the obvious.

"Who is it from?"

"We aren't sure. They did not leave their full names." I hated not having answers. Nessie turned back as the cartoon came back on, but Jake's stare lingered. I really did not like when he acted the part of wary mother for Nessie, she was m_y_ daughter.

After about half an hour of cartoons I felt Edward stiffen beside me. He stood suddenly and started walking towards the front door. Renesmee jumped into my lap and Jake jumped up as we watched him. The front door opened slowly and we listened to Edward moved out to stand on the porch. I stood and began following him slowly.

"Guys? I think they are back." I spoke normally and soon heard doors open and shut above us. The steps of my family were hurried as they made their way down to stand with Jake, Nessie and myself.

The low thud of two hearts and breathing of Jake and Renesmee were the only sounds we made. The rest of my family – myself included – stood, still as statues. Waiting. When the sound of approaching footsteps reached us, the tension in the room got thicker somehow.

"Hello, Edward Cullen." A soft female voice greeted. Two sets of footsteps sounded on the steps then stopped when they got to Edward.

"Hello. And you are?" The confusion in Edwards voice was obvious. I did not sense any fear or anger so I relaxed a bit. The rest of the family did as well, except for Jake.

"My name is April. This is my husband, James." The name alone sent a wave of fear down my spine. I knew it could not be the same one, but the memories were still there.

"I cannot tell you how excited I am to be meeting you and your family!" The female spoke again. I heard movements again as Edward must be letting them in the house. We all stood silently, waiting for the new people to come into view.

Edward was the first one to enter my line of sight and I noted that he was confused. The female followed behind him slowly, looking around the house in wonder. She was only five foot three inches tall, maximum. Her light brown hair flowed down her back in waves. She had small features to match her frame. A small nose and mouth. Her eyes were wide as she looked around the room, not looking at any of us yet. Her eyes were the same butterscotch that my family had. I compared her to Alice, only this new comer had a few more curves and a heart beat. I had not noticed before now, but she had the same thrumming heartbeat as Nessie.

The man followed close behind her. Where she took in her surroundings with awe, he seemed to be looking for a threat. He was easily a foot taller than his mate, with short dark brown hair. His nose was a little too long and pointy, but it fit his face. His eyes seemed to be the same butterscotch, but I could not be sure because they were narrowed as he looked from face to face.

When his eyes hit Carlisle, they relaxed.

"James? It's been years, how have you been?" Carlisle moved forward to greet this man.

"I am well, friend. We have heard much about your family and had to come see you."

My attention was pulled from their conversation when I saw the female take a step towards me. My arms tightened around Renesmee as I turned to face her.

"Hello Bella." She smiled tentatively at me.

"Hello." Even though Carlisle seemed to know her mate, I did not trust them.

"I suppose we should tell our story now, shouldn't we?" We all moved to sit down in the living room. Edward, myself, Alice and Jasper took one sofa, with Jake and Renesmee on the floor in front of us. Carlisle and Esme took the chair on my side of the sofa, Emmett and Rose on the chair across from them. April and James took the smaller sofa across from us.

"Well, I am not sure where to start." The female admitted. Carlisle smiled at her.

"How did you two meet?"

"Well, we met in Italy. During James' time with the Volturi. I was… research. Aro had found me one day and decided I was worth his time for study. I am a half-breed. A very, _very_ rare half-breed. I have been told my scent is very confusing. It repels and pulls everyone to me at the same time. My father was full vampire, my mother was a werewolf." A gasp sounded through the room. She proceeded to tell us all about growing up with her father – her mother's tribe did not accept what had happened and she had been killed.

She had spent the first half of her life with her father, hunting humans and moving constantly. When they had ended up in Italy, Aro had gotten word of them. Of course, he wanted to see this rarest of rare breeds himself. So, her father had been killed for some rule that was broken, and she was taken in, to be studied. She had a gift as well, that she had been working to understand fully herself over the past years.

"I can read people. It is sort of an extension on what Jasper and Edward can do. Edward hears voice and Jasper feels emotions, I see aura's." She explained. "Everyone's aura is different, a different color, a different intensity. I have yet to meet two identical people."

"How does an aura compare to what they do?" Emmett voiced the same question that ran through my head.

"Oh, well, an aura tells me a lot. Like the emotional state of someone. Also I can tell from an aura if someone is lying to me, or if this person is, to the core, a good person or not. That is what I feared the most from the Volturi - most of them were not good people. They enjoyed the power they have, and they enjoyed showing others how much stronger they were. Aro was the worst, when he found something that interested him, his whole being would be consumed with making it his. Be it a shiney jewel, or a new being to study." She shuddered at her memories and James' arm wrapped around her shoulders.

"James found me there. He was a member of the Volturi guard at the time." Her eyes lit up as she looked at him.

"I walked into a room to find Aro, he was studying her. She was so beautiful, and he had her squirming. Asking her questions about things that she had no idea the answers to, but he would not accept her responses, he thought she was lying to him. Jane was with him, causing her pain when Aro wished. Trying to force answers where there were none." It was the first time James had spoken since greeting Carlisle.

They explained how Aro had found her just after the planned attack on my family. Since he had been unable to attain Nessie, he was excited to find an even rarer specimen. It was as though he were a child on christmas. Having unwrapped his gift, he found that it was a toy no other kid at school had, so he had to have it for himself.

It sickened me.

James had been a part of the army that Aro, Caius, and Marcus brought with them to attack us. That was how they had learned of our family. We had all tensed at that, but he quickly explained how things had been described to them. A clan of vampires who were planning to over-throw the Volturi. A large coven who disregarded any and all laws that had been put into place for our protection. They had been lead to believe we were everything the Volturi stood against. When they had arrived in the feild last year and saw us with our own small army, so to speak, it seemed they were right. When Carlisle and Edward spoke, obviously trying to avoid a fight, things changed. At least, they had for James. He saw what was really there. A family, trying to protect each other. Witnesses, who were willing to stand with them if the Volturi attacked.

When Irene had been killed, that put things in perspective for James. He saw Caius trying to start a war, and we fought not to. Holding back the sisters so there would be no immediate war, keeping communication open, instead.

It seemed like only minutes we were talking before Nessie turned to me and placed her hand on my cheek. The image of a sandwich flashed through my mind and I glanced at the clock. It was, indeed, lunchtime. Nessie was hungry, and since we guests who interested her, she would settle for human food instead of a small hunting trip. Edward, having seen that she was hungry, stood to make her the food. Nessie and I followed him to the kitchen. I leaned against the counter as she hopped up to sit and wait for her food, Jake made his way in after us.

"I hope you are making enough for me too, Pops." Jake grinned when Edward growled at him.

"Jacob." I gave him a stern look as he high-fived Nessie.

"He is old enough to be my grandfather, ya know." I rolled my eyes at his defense.

There was a loud _thunk_, and Jacob grabbed his forehead. I leaned down and picked up the now dented can of soup and placed it back into the cabinet Edward had just grabbed it from. Nessie giggled beside me. Edward quickly put together a couple sandwhichs, handing one to each of them. Jacob stared at his then looked back at Edward.

"Just one?"

"Don't you have your own house? With your own food? Go it eat for once." I supressed a giggle of my own as Edwards arm wove its way around my waist.

Jake mumbled something as he bit into his sandwich. I kissed Edward lightly, then leaned my head on his shoulder as we watched Nessie and Jake eat. Nessie was stealing bites off of Jake's sandwich when she didn't think he was paying attention. When they finished, I picked Nessie up and we walked back into the living room. Conversation was still going, my family was very interested in finding out what they could about these new people. Rose, Emmett and Jasper seemed to just want to know if they were safe, Alice and Esme were just plain curious. Carlisle was amazed by the idea of a half-vampire-half-werewolf existing. Jake was still wary of them, no doubt just for the sake of Nessie.

"Can you phase?" It was the first time he spoke to them.

"If I concentrate hard enough, yes. But it takes a lot out of me to do it, so I don't normally."

"How does it work, with the venom, I mean. I was under the impression our venom killed wolves." Carlisle questioned.

"I do not have venom. We fear that venom would kill me as well, which is why James will not attempt to change me fully. I do not blame him, the risk is too high, and as it is, I love my life and why mess with what we have?" She smiled at him.

"How does the whole aura thing work? What color am I?" Alice asked now.

"You are a vivid yellow, sparks of red and green here and there, but mostly yellow. I sense that you are almost a fearless being, you know what you want, and you get it. A little murky, but that is a good thing." Alice smiled at this, then frowned at her clothes. Edward chuckled.

"I am going to need to know what everyone's colors are so that I can dress them appropriately. My family cannot clash, and that goes for aura's, too!" We all laughed at this, a little nervously because we knew she was serious.

**Ok, so I had this ready to go a couple days ago but I am not sure if I was the only one having issues signing onto ffn or not but it was ANNOYING! It would not let me log on to do anything. gr!**

**Well, that was the next chap! Let me know what you all think!**


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